A movie about Dusty Springfield is in the works

7 September 2018, 12:27 | Updated: 6 October 2023, 08:56

A new film about the life of Dusty Springfield will be released next year.

Gemma Arterton will play the British soul legend in the film, titled So Much Love.

The film will be set in 1968, at the peak of Dusty Springfield's popularity, when the singer travelled to Tennessee to record the album Dusty in Memphis.

The official synopsis says: "It will follow her as she navigates her way through the politics of the recording studio and the city, and will also explore her encounter with the music of Motown, her stand against apartheid policies during her aborted South African tour and her thorny brushes with men in the music industry."

The film will is expected to be released in autumn 2019.

Dusty Springfield You Don't Have To Say You Love

Former Bond Girl Gemma Arterton said of the role: "I have been an admirer of Dusty Springfield since I was a teenager: her effortless husky voice, the way she conveyed emotion through music, how she helped bring Motown to the UK.

"Dusty was ahead of her time in many ways and inspired so many future artists. She was generous, witty, mercurial, shy, extroverted and a true English eccentric. I simply cannot wait to play her."

Dusty Springfield became an icon of the 1960s with hits including 'I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself' and 'Son of a Preacher Man'.

After scoring a resurgence of popularity in the 1980s, including a number one hit with the Pet Shop Boys, Dusty died from cancer at the age of 59 in 1999.