Jazz Singer: Whitaker Plans Armstrong Biopic

Forest Whitaker, jazz man.

Variety reports that Forest Whitaker is planning to direct and star in What a Wonderful World, a biography of influential jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong. Ron Bass is writing the script. Oscar Cohen, executive of the Armstrong estate and the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation are cooperating and getting producer credits.

Filming is expected to begin in Louisiana this summer. That’s not just because of the plentiful tax credits LA’s been offering to attract film biz–Armstrong was born in New Orleans. He grew up in poverty and got into enough trouble to be sent several times to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where he honed the cornet skills he’d picked up as a street kid (those were the days, when street kids amused themselves by learning ragtime). Armstrong became famous playing in jazz bands in Chicago and New York.

This isn’t the first go ’round the jazz carousel for Whitaker–he previously played Charles “Bird” Parker in Clint Eastwood’s biopic of the jazz saxophonist. Busy Whitaker has a number of movies ready for release, including Repossession Mambo, Hurricane Season, and Powder Blue (I was hoping this last one was about the San Diego Chargers, but no such luck, it seems). While it’s unlikely he’ll be doing his own playing, surely Mr. Whitaker will be taking some trumpet lessons to get the right look down. Sounds fun to me.