NEW YORK:

Singer Alicia Keys will play Lena Horne in a movie on the music legend and not Janet Jackson as was rumoured earlier. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who has taken over the project, wanted Keys in the lead role, pagesix.com reports. She said, “We’re going to start filming next year. And we’ve got Alicia.” The casting seems to be making sense since Keys and Horne share a lot in common. Both were from New York and became famous quickly. Keys is a spokesperson for several AIDS organisations and Horne was heavily involved in the civil rights movement. Horne, 90, has been deeply involved in the casting process and had asked Jackson to remove herself from the project after the Super Bowl controversy where the pop star had wardrobe malfunction.