Lenny Kravitz came 'this" close to playing Marvin Gaye in a bio-pic movie before plans changed.
Kravitz just published his own memoir Let Love Rule, and he tells Rolling Stone that he'd already done research for the role of playing Marvin Gaye when plans unraveled.
Kravitz actually went to Oostend, the Belgian city where Marvin lived during his European exile years. Lenny immersed himself in the character. Kravitz says, "I stayed at Marvin’s apartment. I went to the gym where he was training for boxing, the church where he sang the Lord’s Prayer."
Lenny considered Marvin a hero, but he had doubts about the project. “I just didn’t feel right about it... There were some business and financing things going on which had nothing to do with me. I just gracefully bowed out with due respect to the director [Julien Temple] who’s wonderful and I really like as a person. In the end, I’m glad that I didn’t do it. Playing Marvin Gaye is a wonderful opportunity but [long pause] I’m just trying to do my thing."
[courtesy of Classic Hits Today]