Celine Dion biopic 'Céline Before Celine' in the works

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The English-language feature by Quebec director Marc-Andre Lavoie will follow the iconic singer's family upbringing before global stardom and life with future husband and manager Rene Angelil.
Cèline Before Celine, a feature by Quebec director Marc-Andre Lavoie about iconic singer Celine Dion's family upbringing and life before global stardom, is set for a 2020 production.

The English-language Celine Dion biopic, which has nephew Jimmy Dion, the son of Dion’s brother Jacques, on board as a screenwriter, reteams Lavoie and producer Adrien Bodson after they co-wrote the 2017 Quebec comedy Innocent.

News of the Dion movie also comes a week after ICM Partners dropped the Canadian-born singer as a client, after she apparently failed to pay commission on her concerts stemming from a deal signed in 2017.

A separate Dion biopic, titled The Power of Love, is slated for a release in 2020. Cèline Before Celine, which has the support of Dion's family, including her mother Therese Dion, has given Lavoie and Bodson access to a trove of family testimonies and archives related to Dion's humble upbringing in French-speaking Quebec.

"In my entire career, I've never met someone as kind, warm and authentic as Celine, and we'll be forever grateful that she believes so strongly in our team to tell the real story has it’s never been told before," director Lavoie said in a statement.

In a letter from Dion, 50, that was sent to the Lavoie and Bodson, the iconic Canadian singer wrote: ''I wanted to let you know just how much I was touched by the film that you are preparing. With your unique approach, you managed to seize the essence of a period that is very dear to my heart."

Well before Dion became a global star after singing My Heart Will Go On for the 1997 movie Titanic, she grew up in Quebec, in a family of 14 children, of which she is the youngest. Cèline Before Celine recalls Dion's childhood, and will end before the superstar singer at age 12 met her then-38-year-old manager and future husband, Rene Angelil, who died in 2016.

The pair met in 1981 when Dion sent Angelil a demo tape of her belting out a song she had written with her mother and brother.