Justin Timberlake to play Neil Bogart in movie

Sony Pictures has acquired the rights to the film Spinning Gold, a biography of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart.

Justin Timberlake will play Bogart in the film which was written by Timothy Scott Bogart, Neilfs son. Bogart and Timberlake are producing along with Laurence Mark, Gary A. Randall and Mark Damon whose Foresight Unlimited is making the film. No director has yet been signed. RCA Records is already on-board to release the soundtrack.

Production is expected to start early next year after Timberlake is done promoting his 20/20 Experience album and the 20/20 Experience Part 2, out in the fall.

Bogart started his career as a singer in the 60Œs and eventually moved to management where he ran the Cameo-Parkway office in Detroit followed by a stint as an executive at Buddah Records.

In 1973, he started Casablanca Records and signed KISS as one of his first acts. Casablanca went on to provide careers for such artists as Donna Summer, George Clinton and Parliament (Funkadelic recorded for Westbound and Warner Brothers) and the Village People and reinvigorated the career of Cher. He later also started Boardwalk Records where he signed Joan Jett.

Bogart died in 1982 at the age of 39 from cancer.

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