Marvin Gaye: The Movie

They say it takes three to make a trend, and with Jamie Foxx, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon successfully plumbing the biographies of Ray Charles, Johnny Cash and June Carter for Oscar gold, it should surprise no one if we find ourselves innundated with music biopics over the next couple of years. Next up: Sexual Healing, a look at the final years in the life of Marvin Gaye, in which the troubled soul singer moved to Europe, recovered from a nasty drug addiction, and then moved back to the US, moved in with his parents, and got back on the spike just in time to be shot to death by his father during an argument. Gaye will be played by Law and Order regular Jesse L. Martin, who last appeared on the big screen as an HIV-postive academic in Chris Columbus' abysmal feature version of Broadway's Rent. The film will be directed by Lauren Goodman, whose IMDb profile is a virtual ghost town. That said, Martin's a theater veteran with genuine musical talent; with the right script, this could very well rock.