Ethan Hawke to play Chet Baker in the jazz legend bio

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ethan Hawke has signed on to play Chet Baker in a new biopic about the legendary jazz trumpeter, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Born to Be Blue picks up with the Baker story late in the musician’s life, when, after years of drug abuse, he stages a comeback.

Robert Budreau (That Beautiful Somewhere) is directing Born to Be Blue from his own screenplay. Hawke has worked closely on the development of the project, which will largely shoot in Sudbury, Ontario. Born to Be Blue is the second big jazz biopic to hit the market, following Don Cheadle's Miles Davis project Kill the Trumpet Player, which co-stars Ewan McGregor and Zoe Saldana.

Carmen Ejogo (The Purge: Anarchy) and Callum Keith Rennie (Fifty Shades of Grey) co-star in Born to Be Blue. Producers are Jennifer Jonas and Leonard Farlinger of New Real Films; Jake Seal of Black Hangar Studios and Budreau through his Lumanity Productions. Executive producers includeAndrew Chang-sang of Productivity Media, William Santor, John Hills, Adam Moryto, Stefan Jacobs, D. Matt Geller and Gurpreet Chandhoke.

K5 International has picked up world sales rights for the project and will be pitching it to buyers at the American Film Market next month. eOne has acquired the Canadian rights.