Producers are looking for someone to play Notorious B.I.G. on the B.I.G. screen and it could be you — well, if you look like him.

The movie, “Notorious,” which the Associated Press reported has been “in the works” for seven years, needs a star, which will be picked from auditions by actors and non-actors who resemble the rapper. Submit audition videos to www.foxsearchlight.com/notorious or to www.biggiecasting.com.

Notorious was gunned down at the age of 24 on March 9, 1997, after a music-industry party in Los Angeles.

In a statement released to the AP, Voletta Wallace, Notorious B.I.G’s mom, described the qualities the producers are seeking.

“There will only be one Christopher Wallace (Notorious B.I.G’s real name), but I’m happy that his legacy will open a door for another to walk through,” said Wallace. “I don’t want you to just imitate him. I want to see his swagger, his style, his energy and smile come through.”



Vauge traces



A different kind of biopic, one on the life of Bob Dylan, scheduled to be released Sept. 7 in Italy and to hit limited release in U.S. theaters on Nov. 21, has people playing him that don’t look anything like him. It’s called “I’m Not There.” Originally the title was “I’m Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan.”

This approach to film biography, which hurls a bunch of actors at the audience portraying the different lives of Bob Dylan, could only work when telling the story of a 66-year-old complex icon who really has had as many lives, if not more.

Dylan is played by Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw and last but not least Richard Gere, who — as Marisa Gabriella wrote on the Internet Movie Data Base — plays “the famous outlaw, miraculously alive but growing old.”

The film explores Dylan’s childhood, his two marriages — one secret, one not — being on the run, womanizing, rock starring, folk idoling, the “never ending tour,” which is still going on, his motorcycle wreck and seclusion, his evangelical years and his reemergence as a heavyweight in the entertainment industry.

Over the last 10 years Dylan scored Album of the Year at the Grammys with “Time Out of Mind.” His album “Love and Theft”, released in 2001, also was nominated Album of the Year. That same year he received the Golden Globe and an Academy Award for best song from a motion picture for “Things Have Changed,” from the movie “The Wonder Boys.”

And, his autobiography, “Chronicles: Vol. I” released in 2004 spent 19 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.

His most recent album, “Modern Times,” released earlier this year, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and entered the charts within the top five in 21 other countries.

A new collection of Dylan’s classic material will be out Oct. 1. If you go to the Web site, www.dylan07.com you can get the low-down on it and even submit your own Dylan stories and thoughts that may be included on the Web site when it goes live in September.

No doubt a fall tour will be announced soon. A date for Atlanta has just been announced for him to appear next month. See the Ticket Alert in this week’s Hot Ticket listing here in Meridian 360º for details.