The long-developing movie biopic of the rapper Tupac Shakur has had its own share of dramas recently, with original director John Singleton dropping out (for the second time) over the summer and lawsuits flying around between producers Emmett/Furla, studio Morgan Creek, and Tupac's mother Afeni Shakur, who holds the rights to his music. Singleton's initial replacement Carl Franklin has now also moved on, but it looks like it's all finally getting straightened out, since another new director has just entered the frame. Music video and commercials man Benny Boom is set to step in.
If his name's unfmailiar, Boom's award-winning work includes promos for Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and Meek Mill. He's made movies before too, although not with this high a profile. He was behind the action comedy Next Day Air and SWAT: Firefight: the straight-to-video sequel to the 2003 Colin Farrell / Samuel Jackson flick.
Tupac, as if you need telling, was a hip-hop superstar, with albums like Me Against the World, All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati all achieving multi-platinum status. He was also building an extremely credible acting career before his untimely death in a drive-by shooting in 1996. The murderer has never been officially identified (although Nick Broomfield's Biggie & Tupac posits some pretty credible theories) and the case remains unsolved.
The new biopic's screenplay has passed through the hands of Steve Bagatourian (American Gun), Stephen J. Rivele & Christopher Wilkinson (Ali, Nixon), Brian Tucker (Broken City) and Singleton. Early versions were structured around Pac's time on Suge Knight's Death Row Records, with lengthy flashbacks to his earlier life and rise to stardom. Whether Boom will stick to that or freak his own style remains to be seen.
The next job, once again, is to find the film's elusive protagonist. Anthony Mackie played Tupac off-Broadway to some acclaim a few years ago, but his short turn in the Biggie-opic Notorious was met with less enthusiasm and he doesn't seem to be in the running here. Marcc Rose, meanwhile, played Tupac this year in the NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton, but that film is developing its own Death Row-focused follow-up.
Expect more news shortly, since the Tupac film needs to be up and running by the end of the year before its option on the music lapses.