Marvin Gaye Biopic Starring Lenny Kravitz Reportedly At Risk As Family Promises To Sue

Anticipation of the coming biopic starring Lenny Kravitz as singer Marvin Gaye has given way to worry with the news that Gaye’s son, Marvin Gaye III, is try to block the project.

The film reportedly covers the last years of the soul singer, who struggled with drugs and depression before his father shot him to death in 1984. Kravitz, a notable musician in his own right after some late ‘90s guitar heroics led to success on the charts, raised the profile of the film when it was announced he’d star.

But all of that might now be in doubt after Gaye III told TMZ the film, reportedly being shot under the working title of “Sexual Healing,” shouldn’t be made.

“The producers and directors of this film are very wrong and shameful,” he said, adding that Kravitz’s involvement is “shameful.” “[They're] trying to do a film about a low period in his life. They don't even know the whole story.”

Gaye’s son also told the celebrity site he and Kravitz, 48, attended school together and he hoped to talk to the “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” singer “about why he would do this. I would hope Lenny doesn’t have any idea that we are against this film being done.”

The Gaye family has been diligent in suing parties that they perceive as threats to Marvin’s legacy. Gaye started singing on Motown Records in the 1960s before releasing “What’s Going On?” in 1971, an album that’s almost always ranked among the greatest of all time. Rolling Stone reported that this film has secured the rights to Gaye’s music.

The role will be Kravitz’s first starring job after supporting appearances in “The Hunger Games,” “Precious” and “The Butler.” He told Billboard he’s also at work on a “very raw, jagged-edge album” called “Negrophilia.”