Celine Dion Biopic Shocker: This Surprising Singer Will Star In ‘The Power Of Love’

A biopic based on the life and loves of Canadian singer Celine Dion entitled The Power of Love will star a surprising powerhouse singer, but one you may have never heard of. The $23 million budget film is in the works from French studio Gaumont, according to a report from Variety.

The Power of Love has been fully backed by Dion and her record company, and Variety reported that the biopic will feature some of the singer’s most popular hits, including “All by Myself,” “My Heart Will Go On” and “I’m Alive.” The twist in this hotly anticipated film? It will be shot mainly in French and will be directed by Valerie Lemercier, who will also star as Dion.

Who is Valerie Lemercier? She is an acclaimed French actress, comedian, singer, film director, and screenwriter. She began her career as an actress in the TV series Palace and has won two Cesar Awards for her supporting roles in the films Les Visiteurs (1993) and Fauteuils d’orchestre (2007). The Cesar Awards are the national film awards of France.

The film will detail, according to Variety, Dion’s life in Quebec as a child through her unlikely rise to fame as a teenager, assisted by her then-manager and eventual husband, Rene Angelil. The couple had three children together – Rene Charles, Nelson, and Eddy. Angelil died in January of 2016 of throat cancer.

Variety spoke to Gaumont’s Cecile Gaget, who noted the film will be similar to the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and the soon-to-be-released Elton John tribute, Rocket Man.

Lemercier revealed she was “touched” by Dion’s grief following the death of her husband Angelil. She was also inspired by the story of Dion’s mother Therese to do this film.

“I discovered the strength of their love story and their great humor, and I better understood how the alchemy of their three individual ambitions made an unwanted, little girl the greatest star on the planet,” Lemercier said, as reported by Variety.

Celine Dion is the youngest of 14 children born to Therese Tanguay Dion and Adhemar-Charles Dion. Her working-class family was always involved in music. Her parents were musicians and when she was a young child, her parents opened a piano bar where the youngest member of the Dion clan performed. The family lived in an overcrowded house, with many siblings sharing beds.

“We were three, four in the same bed,” the singer said to CBS News.

“I did not have a bedroom. Up the stairs, before going into the bedrooms, there was a little ramp. And my bed was there. So everybody went up, they saw me, and I could wave goodbye and goodnight.”

Dion’s mother helped her write a song, which was released as a demo and helped to land the singer her first recording contract at the age of 12.

The film is scheduled for a December 2020 release.