'Luke Cage' writer Charles Murray to pen Sammy Davis Jr biopic

"Luke Cage" scribe Charles Murray has come on board to write Paramount Pictures' biopic of famed performer Sammy Davis Jr. The film will be partially based on Davis' memoir "Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis Jr".

According to Deadline, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mike Menchel and musician Lionel Richie are producing the project. Davis began his career in vaudeville and established himself as a multihyphenate performer with various Billboard Top 100 hits and roles in films like "Ocean's 11", "Robin and the 7 Hoods" and "Gone with the West" among others.

"I would see movies like 'Ocean's 11'and Sammy just stood out. Singing with Frank, dancing like Fred and Gene, with none of those cats looked at him any different in those movies because he was black. I think I made the proclamation to my parents around eight that I wanted to make movies when I grew up. "They're from the South and knew all about what racial tension was and they said, 'good luck.' There weren't a lot of actors on TV who looked like me. I would watch Bill Cosby as the gym teacher Chet Kincaid, and sometimes we would see Diahann Carroll in Julia. But of all those people, Sammy stood out. There was something completely unique about him and I never forgot him," Murray said.

The producers will be working alongside Davis's estate for the movie.

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