It's been officially confirmed by the Hollywood Reporter that the creator and executive producer of “The Game,” Mara Brock Akil and her husband, Salim Akil have plans to remake the 1976 classic film, “Sparkle,” based on “The Supremes.”
Ja Rule also made an announcement that he and Ashanti will star in the film as the main characters, with Irv Gotti of Murder, Inc. making his directorial debut. Others anticipated to star in the film are Beyoncé Knowles as the embattled eldest sibling and P. Diddy as her estranged love interest, Levi. Joel Schumacher, one of the writers on the original flick, is slated to produce.
“We just got the green light. We're remaking 'Sparkle.' Me, Ashanti … and Irv Gotti is [making his] directorial debut in Hollywood,” said Ja Rule. “That's just been greenlit with Warner Bros. It's going to be a big, big event for that movie.”
“Right now we're just going to finish up casting,” Rule said, estimating when 'Sparkle' would spark up production. “They're going to talk budgeting and stuff like that and then it'll be a go. I say we probably won't be up in production until about next year.”
UPDATE: Ok, so apparently Ja Rule's announcement is from 2002, so they've actually been in talks of remaking this film since then. I did think it was rather odd with Ja Rule expected to be going to prison soon, he would be in the process of starring in an upcoming movie. Therefore, all the above can be scratched, and as far as I know from reading several online reports Mara will write the script, and her husband will direct. In terms of the cast, it hasn't yet been confirmed.
[mashshare]
