Da’Vine Joy Randolph, still basking in the eternal sunshine of being an Oscar winner, is returning to her musical roots.
The newly-minted Best Supporting Actress winner for “The Holdovers” is teaming up with “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” director Michel Gondry for an upcoming musical biopic based on Pharrell Williams. The music icon is producing the feature, which is in production at Universal. “Elvis” actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. is set to portray Williams, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Randolph is in talks to star in a yet-unidentified role. The feature is set during Williams’ coming-of-age years in Virginia Beach in the 1970s.
Randolph previously tapped into the ’70s era for her breakout turn in “My Name Is Dolemite.” The actress showed off her singing chops in series “High Fidelity” and “Rustin,” among other projects. Randolph told IndieWire that Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” marked a turning point in her career due to the “access” of its high-brow awards campaign.
“I didn’t do anything different in this that I wouldn’t have done in any of the other characters,” Randolph said. “However, the magic and the great opportunity you have with working with higher ups who have achieved many things in their career is some of that stuff rubs off on you. And you get the access, and you get the eyes on it that, potentially, because it wasn’t a name they knew of, or they didn’t get a chance to catch a TV show or whatever their reason is, I now have that ability for people to at least watch it.”
The untitled Williams film was written by Martin Hynes and Steven Levenson. Mimi Valdés and Gil Netter will produce alongside Williams. Gondry previously teased to IndieWire in 2023 that the musical has a “pretty big budget, but it’s still something personal.”
Gondry’s feature isn’t the only Williams biopic in the works. Williams is at the center of a LEGO-inspired film titled “Piece by Piece,” which is (let’s say) semi-autobiographical. Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville directs the Focus Features film based on the Grammy winner’s original animated project.
The film is described as an “unparalleled motion picture experience” that will tell Williams’ life story “in a way that would set audience’s imaginations free.”
