Last year, hip-hop fans were treated to Notorious, a biopic about late rapper Christopher Wallace, aka Notorious B.I.G. Now, details are beginning to take shape for a biopic about Biggie's rival, Tupac Shakur.
The film is expected to begin filming this November, as director Antoine Fuqua has recruited Oscar-nominated screenwriters Stephen J. Rivele and Chris Wilkinson to work on a new script. The pair previously wrote Ali and Nixon.
In an interview with NY Mag, Wilkinson said that the film would be set on the last day of the rapper's life, with flashbacks drawing from the four years leading up to his death. The screenwriter said that it will be "not in any way biopic-y."
Wilkinson described Shakur as "an artist whose character is at odds with his medium. He was a really sensitive, very romantic, talented young poet who also could sing, dance, and act. But the realities [of the rap industry] were that he had to create this persona of the gangster."
The screenwriter shared his theory on Shakur's death - not who killed the rapper, but why. "He was just beginning to shed that anger and look for a purer voice," Wilkinson said. "He saw the contradiction between the musical persona of 'Thug Life,' and his essential nature as a gentle, sensitive person. And that was partly responsible for his murder: He was not a gangster, but the people around him were. They saw he was going to leave, that they were going to lose him, and so I think they decided to kill him."
Billboard first confirmed the biopic back in 2007. At the time, plans were also announced for a feature film called Live 2 Tell, based on a script Shakur wrote while in prison. There was even a hint that Mosaic Media Group would be working on a Broadway musical about the rapper.
The film is expected to begin filming this November, as director Antoine Fuqua has recruited Oscar-nominated screenwriters Stephen J. Rivele and Chris Wilkinson to work on a new script. The pair previously wrote Ali and Nixon.
In an interview with NY Mag, Wilkinson said that the film would be set on the last day of the rapper's life, with flashbacks drawing from the four years leading up to his death. The screenwriter said that it will be "not in any way biopic-y."
Wilkinson described Shakur as "an artist whose character is at odds with his medium. He was a really sensitive, very romantic, talented young poet who also could sing, dance, and act. But the realities [of the rap industry] were that he had to create this persona of the gangster."
The screenwriter shared his theory on Shakur's death - not who killed the rapper, but why. "He was just beginning to shed that anger and look for a purer voice," Wilkinson said. "He saw the contradiction between the musical persona of 'Thug Life,' and his essential nature as a gentle, sensitive person. And that was partly responsible for his murder: He was not a gangster, but the people around him were. They saw he was going to leave, that they were going to lose him, and so I think they decided to kill him."
Billboard first confirmed the biopic back in 2007. At the time, plans were also announced for a feature film called Live 2 Tell, based on a script Shakur wrote while in prison. There was even a hint that Mosaic Media Group would be working on a Broadway musical about the rapper.
