March 5, 2013 21:17

Lenny Kravitz drops out of Marvin Gaye biopic

'Sexual Healing' is being helmed by Sex Pistols and 'Glastonbury' filmmaker Julien Temple

Photo: PA

Lenny Kravitz will no longer play Marvin Gaye in a film about the last years of the late American soul singer's life.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Jesse L Martin (Law & Order) will now play Gaye in Sexual Healing.

Sexual Healing is being made by Julien Temple, who directed Sex Pistols film The Great Rock'N'Roll Swindle' and 2006's Glastonbury. Brendan Gleason will play the role of promoter Freddy Cousaert alongside Martin.

It is not known why Kravitz is no longer attached to the project, but late last year it was reported that Gaye's son, Marvin Gaye III, was threatening legal action against Kravitz if he did not drop out of the movie.

The film is reported to chart the final years of Gaye's life when the soul legend lived in London in the early 1980s and was suffering an addiction to alcohol while embroiled in problems relating to unpaid tax.

Gaye briefly managed to reduce his drug dependency and regain his confidence after relocating to Ostend, Belgium. He died after being shot by his own father in Los Angeles, California on March 31, 1984.

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