FANTASIA TO PLAY MAHALIA JACKSON

And all things, whatever you make request for in prayer, having faith, you will get ( Matthew 21:22)

Since her debut and win on American Idol a few years ago, no one in their right mind would dare say Fantasia Barrino is not talented. Along with platinum selling albums, she has appeared and stared on Broadway, a lifetime movie about her life, a reality show starring herself and her family and now she is getting ready for her first feature film lead role as one of the greatest women in gospel history. Fantasia will  gain 30-45lbs too portray the great Mahalia Jackson.

According to the Hollywood Press:

The Season 3 winner is slated to appear in a feature-film adaptation of the 1993 book Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel, which recounts the life of the late American gospel singer, a civil rights activist who was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The CAA-repped Barrino, whose biggest post-Idol gig to date was playing Celie in the Broadway version of The Color Purple, will portray Jackson on her journey from abject poverty in New Orleans to her rise as a global figure in gospel and early supporter of Martin Luther King, Jr. The singer died in 1972 at the age of 60.

The film will be directed by Euzhan Palcy (A Dry White Season) from a script by Jim Evering, and goes into production April in Pittsburgh and Chicago for a December release.