Whitaker 'to star' as jazz legend

Forest Whitaker is to star in, and direct, Louis Armstrong biopic What a Wonderful World, according to reports.

The film was being made by Paris-based company Legende, which produced last year's Edith Piaf film La Vie en Rose, trade publication Variety said.

Oscar Cohen, who began working as road manager for trumpeter and singer Armstrong in the late 1940s, will be executive producer, it added.

Whitaker has previously played jazz great Charlie Parker in the film Bird.

The 1988 movie was directed by Clint Eastwood.

"He lived an amazing life and, through his art, shifted the way music was played and would be heard after him"
Forest Whitaker on Louis Armstrong

Ron Bass, whose previous credits include Entrapment and My Best Friend's Wedding, will write the script.

It will begin with Armstrong's impoverished youth in New Orleans, according to Variety.

"Armstrong left a monumental mark on our lives and our culture," Whitaker told the paper.

"He lived an amazing life and, through his art, shifted the way music was played and would be heard after him, not just here in the US but all over the world."

Whitaker has previously directed films including romantic comedies First Daughter, starring Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton, and Waiting to Exhale, featuring Whitney Houston.

In 2007, he won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.