John Singleton’s ‘Tupac’ biopic acquired by Open Road
John Singleton is set to co-write and direct the FX pilot “Snowfall.”
Open Road Films will distribute “Tupac,” a movie about the late rapper and actor Tupac Shakur to be directed by John Singleton (“Boyz N the Hood,” “2 Fast 2 Furious”), the studio announced Wednesday.
Written by Singleton with Jeremy Haft and Ed Gonzalez (the last two penned the 2011 direct-to-video crime drama “Street Kings 2”), “Tupac” will chronicle the life and legacy of the influential rapper, who has sold more than 75 million albums.
Born in Harlem in 1971, Shakur moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988 and eventually signed with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records, under which he became a lightning rod in the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop feud of the 1990s. He was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996.
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Singleton, who was linked to the long-gestating project years ago before it fell through, directed Shakur in the 1993 film “Poetic Justice.”
“To this day, Tupac remains one of the most compelling and provocative artists of all time,” Open Road Chief Executive Tom Ortenberg said in a statement, “and I can’t think of a better filmmaker to bring his story to the big screen than John Singleton.”
Shakur’s mother, Afeni Shakur, will serve as an executive producer on the film, which is being produced and financed by Morgan Creek Productions and Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films.
Casting for “Tupac” is expected to be announced soon, and the film will begin production in late summer in Atlanta, L.A. and New York.
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