An independent biopic about a former Prince protege and lover known in the 1980s as Vanity is going to shoot in Atlanta and Chicago in early 2025.
Dubbed “Nasty Girl: The Denise Matthews Story,” the movie is produced by Chicago-based Kingpix Network and will star newcomer Briana Cortesiano as Matthews.
Canadian-born singer Matthews began her career as a model and met Prince at the American Music Awards in 1980, sparking a romantic and creative relationship.
She led Vanity 6, a Prince-created girl group with the No. 1 dance hit “Nasty Girl” in 1982. As a solo artist, she generated dance hits like “Pretty Mess,” “Mechanical Emotion” and “Under the Influence.”
She eventually broke up with Prince and backed out of his 1984 film “Purple Rain.” She told People magazine at the time, “I needed one person to love me, and he needed more.” As an actress, she landed in films like 1985′s “The Last Dragon” and 1988′s “Action Jackson.”
After overcoming a drug addiction, she became a born-again Christian and ran her own Pure Heart Ministries in Fremont, California. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2015, she said, “I sing to Jesus for Jesus now. This gives me pure joy … worship! I apologize profusely to those I have offended deeply a million times over.”
Matthews died at age 57 from renal failure in February 2016, two months before Prince’s death.
Actors scheduled to be in the movie include Danny Glover and former Atlantans Eric Roberts and Claudia Jordan, the movie production company said. Tichina Arnold is also one of the executive producers.
