Gemma Arterton’s dreams of playing Dusty Springfield are now crushed
(Picture: ES Composite)Gemma Arterton’s Dusty Springfield biopic has been shelved with no explanation as to why.
The Bond Girl was said to have been “excited” about playing the Sixties icon in an upcoming film about the pop singer’s life.
But the film has been scrapped after the acclaimed director, Phyllis Nagy, pulled out of the project amid great mystery.
“Phyllis is no longer developing the project,” said a spokesperson for Nagy, who was set to write the screenplay.
A Number 9 Films spokesperson confirmed: “Sadly, we just couldn’t get Dusty off the ground, despite huge efforts over a long period of time, which was very disappointing for us and Phyllis.
“We have no plans to continue with the film.”
It’s unusual for films to be cancelled once the casting details have been announced.
The producers, Number 9 Films, the makers of hit 2015 film Carol, starring Cate Blanchett, confirmed the name, plot, and cast of the Springfield film back in 2018.
They revealed that the film, titled So Much Love, would be set in 1968, Springfield’s heyday.
"It will follow her as she navigates her way through the politics of the recording studio and the city, and will also explore her encounter with the music of Motown...
“[It will also show] her stand against apartheid policies during her aborted South African tour and her thorny brushes with men in the music industry," an official synopsis said.
Pregnant Arterton, 36, who had worked with production company Number 9 on Byzantium and Their Finest, previously said: “I have been an admirer of Dusty Springfield since I was a teenager.
“Her effortless husky voice, the way she conveyed emotion through music, how she helped bring Motown to the UK.
“Dusty was ahead of her time in many ways and inspired so many future artists... I simply cannot wait to play her.”
Springfield was known for her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound and had 1960s hits such as Son of a Preacherman, and Wishin’ And Hopin’.
She was born on April 16, 1939, in West Hampstead, London, and died on March 2, 1999, in Henley-on-Thames.
