Fantasia Barrino is heading to the big screen. The “I’m Doin’ Me” hitmaker has been summoned to play famed gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in a new biopic. The biopic, based on Jules Schwerin’s 1993 book Got To Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel, is currently in pre-production.
Mahalia Jackson, born in New Orleans, LA in 1911, is known to be one of the best vocalists of all time and the first gospel singer to ever perform at Carnegie Hall. She also used her influence to support the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.
According to the New York Post, the film, endorsed by Jackson, has a $23.9 million dollar budget and Fantasia has a deal that will get her a percentage of the film’s box office gross.
Barrino portrayed herself in her 2006 biopic, the Lifetime Channel’s ‘Life Is Not a Fairy Tale’ and earned a 2007 Theater World Award for her performance in The Color Purple on Broadway.
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