Miles Davis biopic in the works

A biopic of jazz legend Miles Davis looks set to start filming soon after it was announced that director George Tillman Jr. has signed up to the project.

Tillman Jr.'s 2009 film 'Notorious' was a biopic of rapper Biggie Smalls (a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G).

The film will be based on the book 'Dark Magus: The Jekyll and Hyde Life of Miles Davis' by Davis's eldest son, Gregory Davis, and it will be able to utilise Davis's music in its score.

Miles Davis's life seems tailor-made for a big screen Hollywood biopic, with the recording of a string of classic albums alongside concurrent alcohol and drug addictions and endless womanising.

Actor Don Cheadle has been developing his own film on Miles Davis (with him in the starring role) for several years, with the help of another of Davis's sons, Erin, but news of Tillman Jr.'s film may well cause these plans to be shelved.

Producer Nick Davis Raynes said that they were aiming for a film in a similar style to the recent biopics on Ray Charles and Johnny Cash, 'Ray' and 'Walk the Line', stating: "We want to make a film that will do the same justice for Miles Davis."