Fresh from chopping, lopping and punching his way through sci-fi actioner** Repo Men**, Forest Whitaker dusted himself off to share an update on his recently revitalised biopic of jazz great Louis Armstrong, What A Wonderful Life.
The movie, which will have Whitaker on both sides of the camera, spans the charismatic trumpeter's life from his birth into poverty in New Orleans to his death in New York in 1971, taking in a goodly amount of toe-tapping and big band brilliance along the way.
"I feel much better about it," Whitaker told us. "We'll start shooting in April next year hopefully. I met with my producers in Paris two days ago and was worried because my budget was so high [but] they assured me it was ok."
Don't expect a conventional Ray-style musical biopic though. Whitaker points to a more elliptical take on Armstrong's life and career, contrasting public perceptions of the man with the behind-closed-doors reality. "It covers his whole life but more from a myth point of view - it's told as two different myths of the same person."
"I didn't know anything about Louis Armstrong's life until I started working on the piece. I just knew some of his songs - mostly his pop songs [because] in a way he became a pop star. Going into his life has been a really interesting journey - going into this guy who connects the world because people like him all over the world."
Whitaker's take on Charlie Parker in **Bird **was something special - don't be surprised if his second jazz biopic repeats the trick.