The highly anticipated Tupac Shakur biopic may finally be gaining steam, with Morgan Creek Productions and Emmet Furla Films in final partnership negotiations. The production companies announced Thursday they will co-finance the film with an estimated $45 million budget, according to MTV.com.
Hiphopdx.com reports the biopic will be produced by James G. Robinson, David Robinson and L.T. Hutton, along with Randall Emmett and George Furtla. Eddie Gonzales and Jeremy Haft, who wrote the 2011 direct-to-video crime drama, “Street Kings II,” are currently penning the script about the influential rapper, the LA Times reported.
The film will be executive produced by the late rapper’s mother, Afeni Shakur, and filming is scheduled to begin next year.
Tupac Shakur was born in Harlem in 1971, relocated with his mother to Baltimore when he was 14, and then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988. He was a vocal participant in the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop feud of the 1990s before he was gunned down in Las Vegas in 1996.
Although there has been a lot of talk about a Tupac biopic for a number of years now, Shakur’s dramatic life has been only been captured documentaries, including the 2003 film, “Tupac: Resurrection” and 2002’s “Biggie and Tupac.” Previous efforts to get a narrative film made fell apart over negotiations for creative control between producers and Shakur’s mother.
At one point, “Training Day” director Antoine Fuqua was attached to the project, but no director has yet been confirmed. Also, no actor has yet been cast in the title role.
The Tupac Shakur biopic goes into production in Atlanta in February 2014.
