LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — A major motion picture on the life of Jazz icon Louis Armstrong entitled "What a Wonderful World," is in the works. This new biopic is being helmed by director Forest Whittaker, who will also star in the film. Helping Whitaker bring the project to life will be Academy award-winning screenwriter Ron Bass, (Rain Man, et al), veteran producers Ed Pressman, Alain Goldman, (La Vie en Rose), Executive Producer Oscar Cohen, Pres. of Associated Booking Corp. and Exclusive agent to the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, Bruce Kaufman of International Creative Management, packager, and Toby Ludwig of 21st Century Artists, Inc.
The film will chronicle the musician's life from his impoverished childhood in New Orleans to his rise as a virtuoso musician and performer. Associated Booking's Oscar Cohen, who worked as Armstrong's road manager and then manager after Joe Glaser passed, will serve as executive producer on the project and his personal recollections of the seminal musician will inform the narrative.
"Louis Armstrong's music has influenced several generations of musicians, politicians, and children throughout the world. The genius of his music inspired and continues to inspire the world. This is a story of humanity. A man who not only loved his music, but loved people, and brought happiness to millions of people in his travels across the USA, Africa, Russia, Great Britain, Australia, and the whole world." Cohen stated.
The film is set to start production in New Orleans this summer.
