Rap is sooo 2005. Hustle & Flow team Terrence Howard and writer-director Craig Brewer are putting Djay behind them and moving on to a biopic of country singer Charley Pride.
Paramount has bought the life rights to Pride and his wife Rozene, along with all the licences to use his songs in the movie. Howard’s planning to do a Joaquin and perform the tunes himself, along with guitar strumming.
Pride’s story starts in Mississippi, with the young man dreaming of playing professional baseball. A stint in the Negro Leagues sated that until he joined the Army. Following his discharge, he moved to Montana and kept up minor league ball while working construction job. But music became his true calling once he moved to Nashville – between 1966 and 1984, 51 of his 54 single releases arrived in the top 10. But despite his great success, he constantly worried that many of his fans were racist whites.
"When Jackie Robinson broke the barrier, there was a flood of talent that came after him, but Charley was alone," Brewer told Variety. The film will also follow Pride’s love for his wife, who made the family wealthy with smart real estate deals using her husband’s cash.
If the idea of a Pride biopic is intriguing, you’ll have to wait – Brewer already has Sam Jackson drama Black Snake Moan in the can, and is at work on his next film, country-themed pic Maggie Lynn. When that’s finished, he’ll kick off work on the Pride movie.