It looks as if Sam Cooke will join the ever growing list of black musicians whose careers have provided the inspiration for films. Reuters reports that a biopic based on the book Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke has taken a significant step toward becoming a reality:
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais recently completed their adaptation of "Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke," which Klein optioned in the fall of 2009. The book was published in 2005, two years after Guralnick had written the script for "Sam Cooke: Legend," the only authorized documentary on Cooke. It won a Grammy for longform video.
"We had been looking for a long time for a writer to develop Peter's book," Klein told Billboard, "and it clicked when we met them. They understood the artist, they understood the times. It's one of those things, like when you meet the love of your life and you know you have met your (future) wife. They have written a fantastic script."
Klein says the script covers Cooke's entire life — 1931 to 1964 — from childhood through his years as a gospel singer, a pop star, civil rights activist and eventually a label owner and music publisher. His music ushered the transition of R&B into soul music.
Read more at Reuters.
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