EXCLUSIVE: 12 Years A Slave helmer Steve McQueen will direct a full length feature documentary on the life of iconic hip hop star Tupac Shakur. A deal has come together between Estate trustee Tom Whalley and Amaru Entertainment, the company created by Afeni Shakur to release her son’s posthumous projects. They are teaming with Nigel Sinclair’s White Horse Pictures and Jayson Jackson to produce a fully authorized documentary with Amaru on the life of late hip-hop artist, writer and poet. McQueen, who won the Oscar for the Best Picture winner 12 Years A Slave will direct and Jayson Jackson (What Happened, Miss Simone?) will produce with Sinclair, the man behind a slew of musical documentaries including the most recent, The Beatles: Eight Days A Week–The Touring Years, along with Nicholas Ferrall and Whalley. Gloria Cox, Tupac Shakur’s aunt and Afeni Shakur’s only sister, will executive produce along with White Horse’s Jeanne Elfant Festa. White Horse Pictures will be the worldwide sales agent on the film.
Though his recording career only lasted five years, Shakur has sold over 75 million records worldwide and he recently became the first solo hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the April 7 ceremony where he was posthumously inducted with a musical tribute from Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys and T.I. He also starred in such films as Juice, Poetic Justice, Above the Rim, Gridlock’d and Gang Related. He was murdered in a drive by shooting in 1996.
Said McQueen: “I am extremely moved and excited to be exploring the life and times of this legendary artist. I attended NYU film school in 1993 and can remember the unfolding hip-hop world and mine overlapping with Tupac’s through a mutual friend in a small way. Few, if any shined brighter than Tupac Shakur. I look forward to working closely with his family to tell the unvarnished story of this talented man.”
Beyond the support of Shakur’s estate, the film will also have the support of Interscope Records, which release most of Shakur’s catalog, and Universal Music Publishing Group. Which means access to songs that have not lost their resonance over time.
Exciting and a Certain Game Changer!
while guys like james gunn is making the GOTG franchise and zack snyder is doing the dc franchise and all of the other money making projects in hollywood, us black folks are still making movies about rappers, racism and other ghetto bullcrap. even though some of these movies, maybe every one out of ten, make money we as a people have to grow up and get on with being Americans. and for those who question my making this statement, we as a people have to be allowed to criticize each other in order to improve.
You go make a movie. Make the type of movie you wish to see. Why do you care about who Steve chooses to make a film about? He’s a grown man.
You can be anything that you want to be online.
Hmmm, wonder if he was inspired by the amazing Academy Award nominated feature doc about Tupac, Tupac Resurrection. It’s all in his own words and incredible filmmaking and storytelling.
WOW! How many Documentaries do you need about Tupac? People are just continuing to cash and grab on Tupac’s image. Aren’t there like 12 DOCS done so far? They are going to do Tupac overkill! I love Tupac but one good solid BIOPIC FILM would be great and then move on to something different.
Hes a legend thts probably why they keep making docs about hin.
Yes i agree he is a LEGEND. I will forever support WHATEVER comes out about this imcredible YOUNG gifted black brother. How many 23 year olds , 24, 25 year olds do YOU know that are even thinkimg about half of what tupac represented UMMMM 0.