SCOTT STAPP To Play FRANK SINATRA In Upcoming RONALD REAGAN Biopic

BLABBERMOUTH.NET

According to Billboard, CREED frontman Scott Stapp will portray Frank Sinatra in the upcoming biopic "Reagan". The film, which is due next year, will include a scene of Sinatra singing at the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove club in Hollywood, where he performed at a fundraiser in 1970 for Ronald Reagan's second California gubernatorial campaign. "Sinatra in performance mode was an exercise in restraint," Stapp said in a statement to Billboard. "He had this steely, stylish swagger and his sheer presence commanded a room. I was excited to join the cast and blown away by the on-set attention to detail, style, and overall production." "Reagan" is directed by Sean McNamara, produced by Mark Joseph and written by Howard Klausner. Stapp joins a cast including Dennis Quaid, who portrays Reagan; Jon Voight as a KGB agent who tracked Reagan for 40 years; Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan; Mena Suvari as Reagan's first wife, Jane Wyman; Lesley-Anne Down as Margaret Thatcher; and Kevin Dillon as Jack Warner. "We are honored to have Scott in 'Reagan'," McNamara said. "Scott's known for big, high-energy performances, so it was a thrill to see him shift gears to embody Sinatra's contained charisma." Stapp is known as frontman for CREED (over 50 million albums sold worldwide), and for his work as a solo artist who released the platinum-certified "The Great Divide" (2005) and "Proof Of Life" (2013), which featured his first solo Billboard No. 1, "Slow Suicide". In July 2019, Scott released his first album in six years, "The Space Between The Shadows". Stapp went through a highly publicized, drug-inflamed meltdown in 2014, after which he entered into an intensive rehab program. Stapp also lost custody of his three children during this period, while also missing a court hearing and allegedly threatening to kill President Obama. After completing rehab, Scott spent the following year in intensive therapy. Although he was initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder, it was later determined that it was severe depression that led to addiction. Now nearing six years of sobriety, Stapp spoke to Men's Health about health and fitness in 2019 when his comeback album was released, saying, "I hate to use the word, but I guess it has become my new addiction."