Actor Mekhi Phifer will star as Al Green in a new biopic of the R+B legend.

The movie will chart Green's plunge into drink and drugs before he rehabilitated himself and became a reverend.

The 8 MILE actor says, "John Wells Productions and I are producing it. We're in the process of finding writers now and I'm going to meet with Al on 19 August (05)."

Green, 59, once said of his wild life, "Every night there was a party. There was coke, there was smoke, there was wine and rum, naked women, every vice you can think of. If I hadn't stopped that I'd be with Marvin (GAYE), OTIS (REDDING) and SAM (COOKE) now."