Dionne Warwick Biopic: If Lady Gaga Won’t Play Cilla Black, Then Who Should?

There’s been a bit of an awkward situation over who will be playing Cilla Black in an upcoming biopic of Dionne Warwick, legendary interpreter of Burt Bacharach/Hal David compositions. At a press conference in Cannes last Friday, Ms. Warwick announced that the movie was set to begin production this coming fall. She will be portrayed by LeToya Luckett, (formerly of Destiny’s Child). Lady Gaga, Warwick said, was cast as her “arch-nemesis,” the late British singer Cilla Black.

Shortly thereafter, representatives of the flamboyant “Born This Way” singer issued this statement: “Lady Gaga is not attached and will not appear in the project.” Oops! According to Variety, Warwick thinks this is some kind of glitch that will get straightened out one way or the other. Either Gaga will play Cilla Black, and if not, somebody else will. She also made a point of saying: “It isn’t starring Gaga, it’s starring LeToya Luckett. It’s about Dionne Warwick, not Lady Gaga — OK?”

And yes, we get that which makes us wonder why she would even want Lady Gaga to be in the Cilla Black part. Warwick’s description of Black as her “arch-nemesis” refers to the British singer’s covers of her hit songs, particularly “Anyone Who Had a Heart.” Originally released by Warwick in 1963, Black’s 1964 cover charted higher than the original. It’s like a no-brainer that Gaga’s superstar status in the music world, coupled with her recent acting success in “American Horror Story: Hotel”, would mean all eyes on Gaga in any music film. There would be more stories about Gaga than either Warwick or LaToya Luckett, no matter how well Luckett performed and sang (assuming she is doing her own singing).

A couple of years ago, Sheridan Smith played Cilla Black in a British mini-series entitled “Cilla”. Smith did her own singing in the movie. Here she is singing “Anyone Who Had a Heart.”

It’s excellent and here is the 1964 Cilla Black cover, as you would have heard it on the radio, to compare it to. We think Sheridan would be a much better choice to play Cilla in Dionne Warwick’s biopic.

This is the original 1963 Warwick recording, the one we are most partial to. There is no disputing Cilla Black’s popularity, but there is just no denying that Dionne Warwick’s voice was in a class all its own.