F. Gary Gray is set to direct Marvin, a biopic of Marvin Gaye, the iconic singer who was shot to death by his father in 1984. C. Gaby Mitchell (Blood Diamond) is onboard to write the script.

According to Variety, producers David Foster and Duncan McGillivray will shop to studios and financiers a package that includes the complete music rights to Gaye's catalog, including the hits that made him Motown's biggest solo male star, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Heard It Through the Grapevine," "What's Goin' On" and "Let's Get It On." The plan is to have the star of the film lip synch to Gaye's recordings.

Gray (The Italian Job) has long wanted to tell Gaye's story, but the inability to secure music rights has made it a high mountain to climb. A rival picture, Sexual Healing, produced by James Gandolfini, who has a role, and starring Jesse L. Martin, will focus on the singer's declining years, because the filmmakers have rights to use songs only from his post-Motown career. That film, reportedly scheduled to start last month in Europe, has not begun production.

Gray said his movie will cover Gaye's entire life, from his emergence at Motown through his defiance of Berry Gordy to record "What's Goin' On" and on up to his death.

No production date has been set.