There are two movies of Marvin Gaye's life in the works right now, and the bigger budget version has just had a director announced.

Currently there is a film in production called Sexual Healing written and directed by Lauren Goodman which concentrates on his later life once he had put his past life of drug abuse behind him and stars Jesse L. Martin of Law & Order fame.

According to Reuters a second movie has just had a director announced:

Still photographer D. Stevens will direct "Marvin -- The Life Story of Marvin Gaye," which begins shooting later this year.

The $40 million production plans to incorporate 24 of the late soul crooner's songs. Roberta Flack will serve as music supervisor. Shooting will take place in Washington, Detroit and Los Angeles, said producer Duncan McGillivray

"It's amazing that Marvin's story hasn't been told in its entirety in a big-budget feature film. We will be the first to do it," McGillivray said.

Yes you will, that doesn't mean that you'll have the better movie though, the Goodman film could well turn out to give you a run for your money. After all this big budget film will have to deliver bigger returns and is being compared to other big budget singer biographical films such as Ray and Walk the Line. That's a lot to live up to.