With the unprecedented critical and box office success of N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton, some of those involved are, not unnaturally, musing ways to follow it up. One such in particular is Compton co-executive producer L. Leigh Savidge, who's now in the early stages of turning his book and documentary Welcome To Death Row into a narrative feature{
The story, touched on in Straight Outta Compton, would delve further into the formation, rise, copious feuds and controversy surrounding Dr Dre and Suge Knight's label Death Row Records: home of breakout megastars like Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur and many others (including Dre himself).
Those four principal players have already, of course, been cast in Compton: Corey Hawkins as Dre, Keith Stanfield as Snoop, Marcc Rose as Tupac and R. Marcos Taylor as Suge. There's no guarantee at this stage that all or any of them would reprise their roles, however. Those would be deals to be worked out.
Another sticking point could possibly be the music rights, although those are likely less of an issue now that Knight no longer controls them. The gangsta mogul has been vocally unhappy about his portrayal in Compton, but Death Row's back catalogue these days resides with Entertainment One following Death Row's bankruptcy. Knight's immediate future is a murder trial.
Early days but intriguing prospects then, and this isn't the only project to have its discs set spinning by F. Gary Gray's film. The long-gestating Tupac biopic has suddenly found its groove. That project, which had John Singleton attached for a time, is now moving ahead with Carl Franklin (Devil In A Blue Dress) directing. More on both projects as we get it.