Lenny Kravitz and Marvin Gaye. (WENN.COM file photos)

Rocker-turned-actor Lenny Kravitz has reportedly been tapped to portray Marvin Gaye in filmmaker Julien Temple's forthcoming biopic.

The controversial British director stepped in to revive the project last year after both Cameron Crowe and F. Gary Gray abandoned plans to bring the soul legend's life story to the big screen, and now Kravitz has been cast as the music icon, according to London newspaper The Evening Standard.

The American Woman hitmaker has already proved his acting chops with small roles in Precious and The Hunger Games, but if the rumours are true, this will mark his debut as a leading man.

Will Smith and Terrence Howard had previously been linked to the role.

The film, tentatively titled Midnight Love, will focus on Gaye's final studio album of the same name, which was recorded in Belgium, where the singer was living in tax exile.

The biopic will be shot in Ostend - the town the Sexual Healing star called home in the early 1980s.

Gaye was shot dead after an altercation with his father in 1984.