(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Aretha Franklin has revealed Halle Berry is in talks to portray her in a movie about her life.

The singing legend has made no secret of her admiration for Halle. Last year, she said she would love to see the Oscar-winning actress land the role and has now announced plans are underway for the project to progress.

"Halle Berry is my pick," Aretha said during a telephone interview on The Wendy Williams Show earlier this week. "There's a young Aretha that has yet to be named."

Aretha who is recovering from an undisclosed illness reported to be cancer explained the film has been in the pipeline for years. The 68-year-old soul star became frustrated when the plans failed to come to fruition, but has now revealed draft scripts are being prepared.

"For the last four years, we've been talking about [the film], and I have had a number of offers. Unfortunately, they were not good offers," she explained. "Now, we have something on the table. They have all of the financing on one project and the second project, and he's in the process of writing things for me to approve on the tele-film."

Aretha has also previously expressed a wish for Denzel Washington and Terrence Howard to appear in the film. The star wants Denzel to play her father C.L. Franklin - who was a Baptist minister and civil rights leader - and believes Terrence would be perfect for the role of Smokey Robinson. She has claimed the Hollywood stars are enthusiastic about the film.

The movie will be based upon her bestselling 1999 autobiography Aretha: From These Roots and the singer plans to begin looking at scripts in the next few weeks. (C) Cover Media