Dionne Warwick says she “personally chose” lookalike Teyana Taylor to play her in a new biopic.
The music legend — who was among the music royalty inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Oct. 19 — said there is no one else that could portray her than “triple threat” Taylor.
“She is a triple threat: she sings, she dances and she is an actress. I have seen her films; I got to know her, and as I got to know her I found that she was doing all of the research that she could find on me. She knows more about me than I know about myself,” Warwick — who was supported by the Coming 2 America star at the ceremony — gushed to The Sun newspaper’s “Bizarre” column at the induction ceremony.
“I personally chose her — based on a couple of photographs I found. One of her and one of me. We had them interposed together and I can’t think of anybody else who would ever do it,” Warwick added.
“We’re already working on it. We’re in the building process right now. I always wanted to make sure I could lock in with any person that I would be playing,” Taylor told the “Tamron Hall Show” of the film in 2023.
Taylor explained that she is taking inspiration from Angela Bassett’s take on Tina Turner in the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do With It and Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 movie Ray.
“I miss when movies were like that, when you got to really get to know them and tap in,” the A Thousand and One star said.
Taylor revealed that she was in regular contact with Warwick and is determined to make sure that her story is told in the right way on the big screen.
“We talk almost every day. I’ve always been a firm believer and stood on safety. She’s had a wonderful career, and I think right now is about making her feel as safe as possible to tell her story because a lot of these stories get misconstrued or dramatized to an extent. That’s not really where we want to go,” Taylor said.
Warwick had teased the project back in 2021 although she had suggested that it was going to be a television series.
“[Teyana] is certainly a talented young lady with whom I’ve had the pleasure of interfacing. She’s very excited about the prospect of being involved, and she’s also going to be very, very much involved in directing it and putting together parts and parcel of how we see this going,” the music legend told Entertainment Weekly.
