Colman Domingo to Direct and Star in Nat King Cole Biopic

[LevelUp]

Colman Domingo to Direct and Star in Nat King Cole Biopic (EXCLUSIVE)

Colman Domingo will star as Nat King Cole in a musical biopic that he will also direct and co-write.

variety.com

Colman Domingo is already unforgettable, but now he’ll tackle the role to prove it.

Domingo will be starring as the legendary singer Nat King Cole in a movie musical from a script he co-wrote, Variety has learned exclusively. He will also be making his feature directing debut on the project.

“I’ve been working on it quietly for a few years,” he says during a Variety Awards Circuit Podcast episode. “It’s something I’m looking forward to putting together with some great partners.”

It’s not yet known which period Domingo’s film will focus on. One of the most notable moments of his life was on April 10, 1956: while performing before an all-white audience in Birmingham, Ala., a group of four white men attacked him while performing. After the authorities apprehended the men, the singer returned to the stage, with the remaining audience members giving him a 10-minute standing ovation


This isn’t Domingo’s first rodeo with Cole, as he co-wrote the play “Lights Out: Nat ‘King’ Cole” with Patricia McGregor that premiered at the Geffen Playhouse. That interpretation imagines what might have been going through the singer’s mind during his 1957 Christmas special on “The Nat King Cole Show,” the first network program hosted by an African American.

Cole was one of the most popular and influential musicians of the 20th century. He began his career as a jazz and pop vocalist in the late 1930s, recording over 100 chart-topping songs in music history, notably “Unforgettable,” “Smile,” and “Let There Be Love,” and sold over 50 million records. The Grammy Awards gave Cole a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

The news comes following his Oscar nomination for best actor for his work as civil rights leader Bayard Rustin in George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin” and being cast as Jackson 5 family patriarch Joe Jackson — the controversial talent manager and father of pop star Michael Jackson — in the upcoming biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua.

Domingo is already filling up his 2024 calendar. He executive produced the horror movie “It’s What’s Inside,” which premiered at Sundance and sold for $17 million to Netflix. He’ll also appear in feature films such as Ethan Coen’s “Drive-Away Dolls” and Greg Kewdar’s “Sing Sing,” which he also produced.

Domingo is represented by Gersh, Liebman Entertainment, Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham

 

[get these nets]

He's the new " It guy", and is capitalizing. Unlike the others who held that title briefly, he's using that leverage to write and direct projects.

 

[Piff Perkins]

I hope the fact that he's directing/co-writing means this won't be one of those generic, wack Hollywood movies about legends (Bohemian Rhapsody, the Whitney Houston movie that came out last year, the Amy Winehouse movie that's coming out soon, etc). Could be interesting.

 

[CHICAGO]

DOES NAT HAVE ANY SUSPECT ALLEGATIONS
IN HIS BACKGROUND?






​

 

[King Sun]

DOES NAT HAVE ANY SUSPECT ALLEGATIONS
IN HIS BACKGROUND?






​

It's an musician from the 40s of course

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Hopefully he does the story justice. Hollywood is at its absolute most flabby and sick right now.

 

[CHICAGO]

THIS REMINDS ME I MET
NATALIE COLE WHEN I WAS A KID.

SHE SPOKE TO US ABOUT HER RISE,
DRUG ABUSE
AND RECOVERY....
(Saturday morning kids program at church)

SHE DIDNT EVEN REVEAL HER NAME
UNTIL THE END OF HER STORY

WE WERE FAMILIAR WITH HER FATHERS NAME
BUT NOT FAMILIAR WITH HER.
(I was 10 yrs old)

AS I GOT OLDER AND MORE INTO MUSIC
I REALIZED SHE WAS A LEGEND IN HER OWN RIGHT.



​

 

[Mr Hate Coffee]

Oh this nikka is booked and busy

 

[Leonard Washington]

Made me think of Chappelle

all jokes aside I hope it will be a great biopic

 

[jwinfield]

THIS REMINDS ME I MET
NATALIE COLE WHEN I WAS A KID.

SHE SPOKE TO US ABOUT HER RISE,
DRUG ABUSE
AND RECOVERY....
(Saturday morning kids program at church)

SHE DIDNT EVEN REVEAL HER NAME
UNTIL THE END OF HER STORY

WE WERE FAMILIAR WITH HER FATHERS NAME
BUT NOT FAMILIAR WITH HER.
(I was 10 yrs old)

AS I GOT OLDER AND MORE INTO MUSIC
I REALIZED SHE WAS A LEGEND IN HER OWN RIGHT.



​

shyt made me remember that Natalie passed away back in 2015

 

[jwinfield]

DOES NAT HAVE ANY SUSPECT ALLEGATIONS
IN HIS BACKGROUND?






​

Quick scan of his wiki doesn't have anything wild.

Caught some flak during the Civil Rights Movement, some felt he wasn't doing enough and didn't like him performing for all white audiences.

Thurgood Marshall, then-the chief legal counsel of the NAACP, said "All Cole needs to complete his role as an Uncle Tom is a banjo." Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the NAACP, wrote him a telegram that said:

You have not been a crusader or engaged in an effort to change the customs or laws of the South. That responsibility, newspapers quote you as saying, you leave to the other guys. That attack upon you clearly indicates that organized bigotry makes no distinction between those who do not actively challenge racial discrimination and those who do. This is a fight which none of us can escape. We invite you to join us in a crusade against racism.