Jason Derulo and Wiz Khalifa show up in the trailer for Spinning Gold, a long-delayed movie about the early days of Casablanca Records.
Derulo plays singer Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers and Khalifa portrays George Clinton in the biopic, which is centred on Casablanca founder Neil Bogart, who is credited with launching acts like KISS, The Village People and Parliament. Bogart died of cancer in 1982 at 39.
“Their mix of creative insanity, a total belief in each other and the music they were creating, shaped our culture and ultimately defined a generation,” reads a description of the film. “In a story so unbelievable that it can only be true, comes the motion picture event of the musical journey of Neil Bogart and how his Casablanca Records created the greatest soundtrack of our lives.”
Other music stars appearing in the movie include New Edition’s Johnny Gill, Ledisi (as Gladys Knight), Pink Sweat$ (as Bill Withers) and Tayla Parx (as Donna Summer).
MORE: Spinning Gold Finishing Production After Allegedly Stiffing Canadians
Spinning Gold, written and directed by Bogart's son Timothy Scott Bogart, is set to open on March 31.
It has been a long journey to cinemas for the project. Justin Timberlake was attached to portray Bogart as early as 2013. “We’ve been trying to chip away at it,” he told Screen Daily in 2017. “I’m not sure how we want to go about it so right now we’ve been just chipping away at the material, working on the script, having conversations.”
In February 2019, iHeartRadio.ca was first to report that Spinning Gold was scheduled to be filmed in Montreal that summer. Four months later, it was announced that Timberlake was replaced by Broadway star Jeremy Jordan.
Production began in Montreal on July 15, 2019 and was scheduled to continue until Sept. 20, 2019. But, about a month into filming, talent union ACTRA issued a “Do Not Work” order to its members, alleging Spinning Gold LLC and the numbered Quebec company it was required to register were “unfair engagers for failure to meet payroll obligations.”
The union prohibited its members “from accepting work” on the film or risk “disciplinary action.”
AQTIS, the union representing technical crew in Quebec, said producers owed its members about $600,000 in wages. (AQTIS later told iHeartRadio.ca that its issues with Spinning Gold LLC were resolved and its members were paid.)
In June 2021, Spinning Gold resumed production in New Jersey.
Watch the trailer below: