John Singleton appears all set to direct the Tupac Shakur biopic. John – who worked with the sex-taped Shakur on ‘Poetic Justice’ in 1993 – has stepped into the role following the departure of Antoine Fuqua (‘Training Day’), because he had trouble casting the role of the late rapper.
Tupac Shakur was one of the biggest stars of the 90s, creating albums including ‘The Don Killuminati’ and ‘All Eyez on Me’ and some credible acting roles before he was shot in a drive by killing in 1996, in what remains an unsolved case.
John – whose current film ‘Abduction’ starring Taylor Lautner is still in cinemas – has yet to sign up for the project, but should he agree, he will be working with a script which has gone through a number of revisions, most recently by Brian Tucker.
Earlier this year 20-year-old star Soulja Boy – real name DeAndre Cortez Way – revealed he had been approached to play the part.
He admitted: “I got an email from William Morris agency – that’s my agency that I’m with – they reached out to me to play the part. I’m just still thinking about it right now.”
Let’s hope any Tupac biopic does not ignore or forgive his absolutely primitive attitude towards women.
In November 1993, Tupac and others in his posse were charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room. Tupac sodomized the woman and then encouraged his friends to sexually abuse her. Although Tupac denied the charges he was was convicted of sexual abuse and sentenced to 1½–4½ years in prison. The judge described Tupac’s crime as “an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman.” After serving part of his sentence, Tupac was released on bail pending appeal. On April 5, 1996, a judge sentenced him to serve 120 days in jail for violating terms of his release on bail.
Tupac’s behavior sets an example to be avoided – let’s hope the biopic does not glorify this lowlife.
Image credit to Judy Eddy/WENN.com
