Teyana Taylor explains delays with Dionne Warwick biopic

Teyana Taylor is taking her time with the Dionne Warwick biopic because she wants "everything to be perfect".

The Walk On By hitmaker personally picked the singer and actress to play her in a feature film in late 2020 and Taylor has been preparing for the role and producing the project for the past few years.

Production was due to get underway last year, but after a delay, the A Thousand and One star told People over the weekend that "everything is so up and running" in pre-production for the forthcoming film.

"We have everything kind of set in stone and everything together. It was a little slowdown, of course, with the unfortunate things that have taken place," she explained. "I want this to be perfect and I want to sell her story and I just want everything to be perfect. But I'm in such a great space with it. We're in a great space. We spend a lot of time together. So it's just like, I'm super excited. It's a big job."

She continued, "So I think that's another reason why I took a little while because I needed to make sure it was in the right hands. She's given me a lot of control, like a lot of creative control, so I'm taking on even a bigger job than just portraying her."

The singer noted that it has been difficult trying to consolidate Warwick's long career into one feature and added that the Alfie hitmaker's mental and emotional safety has been her priority.

The star, who is producing via her The Aunties Production company, did not reveal when the cameras will roll on the project.

Warwick, 84, previously told The Associated Press that she picked Taylor to play her after noticing their uncanny resemblance.

"I personally chose her based on a couple of photographs that my son found, one of her and one of me," she said last year. "And we had them interposed together. I can't think of anybody else that could ever do it."