Teyana Taylor Is Really Playing Dionne Warwick In Her Biopic: We’re Getting Everything Laid Out + Says It Will Be A Series


Teyana Taylor Is Really Playing Dionne Warwick In Her Biopic: We’re Getting Everything Laid Out + Says It Will Be A Series

It looks like Dionne Warwick’s wish for Teyana Taylor to play her in a biopic could come true!

As previously reported, the legendary singer made it clear she wanted Teyana Taylor to take on her life’s story and gave Netflix a shout-out.

Teyana Taylor and Netflix both suggested they were on board.

Teyana Taylor has given an update on the project along with more details. She first shared her reaction to Dionne Warwick’s request in a new interview with Buzzfeed,

“I was screaming, of course! I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ She’s the queen of Twitter — she’s super, super active, so I knew for a fact that it was really her. Like, it wasn’t just a cute little tweet like, “Yeah girl, I see you.” No, it was really like, ‘Um, Netflix, if you’re ever thinking about doing anything regarding me, y’all obviously know my choice.’ She got straight to the point, so that was exciting for me. After she tweeted it, of course, I retweeted it.”

She added that they took action the next day.

“They literally reached out to me a day later. They reached out right away and I was like, ‘Oh, they’re serious!’ I was ready. We hopped on Zoom that very next day. I responded to that email so fast, it didn’t make no sense [laughs].”

And it looks like things are still moving forward. Teyana Taylor continued and said,

“It’s dope that I actually get to spend time with her, because when you’re portraying someone’s life, getting that opportunity can be rare. Sometimes things aren’t approved or other times the person isn’t physically here to say what they want, so to know that she’s gonna be a part of this for the whole ride is absolutely amazing. We will be telling her story from her own words, and I’m so excited. Dionne and her son have literally been so lovely.”

She said production for the project hasn’t started yet, adding,

“Twitter in itself is its own world, right? So I think Twitter had went so crazy with the look-alike pictures of us. So we kind of just jumped into it that way — it wasn’t like she already had a plan for it. We’re literally at the stages of getting everything laid out. One thing we’re very clear on is that we definitely want it to be a series. Dionne has been an icon for so many decades — not years, but decades! Her story is still continuing, so we knew an hour-and-a-half movie wasn’t gonna do it. Ninety minutes ain’t enough girl, you need a whole series!”

She went on to say,

“So we’re at that place where I’m just really getting to know her. I get to ask her whatever I want to ask her and just talk to her for however long I want to talk to her. I think once we get past that, it’ll help us really shape an idea of what we want it to be about. Then we’ll start talking production, writers, and different things like that. We’re at the very early stages of it, but we’re definitely not in a super-early stage. We’re getting there.”

When asked what eras of Dionne Warwick’s career she’s ready to capture, Teyana Taylor explained,

“Honestly, all of it! I’ve watched her career and she’s remained so graceful. Like, ‘Girl, how you do it?’ She’s been there for a lot of elements and eras that we’ve endured. So, I want to know everything about her! You know, I want to know everything. She has some really cool life stories. Have you read her book? It’s really, really good. I was conceiving scenes in my head while reading her book. So, the director and producer in me was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t wait to do this. I can’t wait to do that.'”

What are your thoughts on Dionne Warwick’s biopic being a series? Comment and let us know.

Authored by: Char