Gemma Arterton is to star in a Dusty Springfield biopic.
The ‘Quantum of Solace’ star will take on the lead role in a new film about the singer’s life, as she undertakes a political trip to Memphis in 1968.
She said: "I have been an admirer of Dusty Springfield since I was a teenager: her effortless husky voice, the way she conveyed emotion through music, how she helped bring Motown to the UK. Dusty was ahead of her time in many ways and inspired so many future artists. She was generous, witty, mercurial, shy, extroverted and a true English eccentric. I simply cannot wait to play her."
The film – called ‘So Much Love’ – will be penned and directed by Phyllis Nagy, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2016 for her screenplay for ‘Carol’, whilst Number 9 Films will produce. Filming is set to take place in the UK and US in early 2019, with the film expected to be released in autumn 2019.
An official synopsis reads: "It will follow her as she navigates her way through the politics of the recording studio and the city, and will also explore her encounter with the music of Motown, her stand against apartheid policies during her aborted South African tour and her thorny brushes with men in the music industry."
And Nagy is looking forward to taking the helm of a movie about Springfield, who she described as "an innovative, brilliant artist and a complex, contradictory woman".
Gemma Arterton to play Dusty Springfield
