Everything You Need To Know About The Tupac Biopic

Dan RysPublished: April 25, 2014

With the news last week that the long-delayed, oft-discussed, potentially-forthcoming Tupac biopic had finally found a distributor in Open Road Films, it seems like the film might finally come to fruition. Of course, that's always going to be a premature statement; when it comes to the Tupac biopic, there feels like there have been more false starts than an entire NFL season, with the project caught up in varying levels of litigation and dissatisfaction—not to mention a revolving door of screenwriters and directors—since rumors that Tupac's mother Afeni Shakur was shopping rights to the film began circulating around 2007.

In the intervening years, the proposed film has seen its share of ups and downs; before it could even gain traction, production company Morgan Creek filed suit against Ms. Shakur's Amaru Entertainment in Feb. of 2009, claiming that they had a contract for the rights and that she had used the contract as a baseline to further negotiations rather than accept the terms. Amaru disagreed, filing a lawsuit the following month and setting off two years of litigation that was finally settled out of court in 2011. During those two years, the film acquired a director, script writers, and held an open casting call, and had numerous filming dates on the schedule, leading many to believe that the production was underway.

Three years later, all that has been wiped out, and the film is getting a fresh start. With the ink on the Open Road deal just beginning to dry, XXL spoke with one of the biopic's producers, Program Pictures CEO L.T. Hutton, to clear up all the confusion surrounding the film, set the record straight on what is coming down the pipeline, and lay out everything you need to know about the Tupac biopic. Keep ya head up. —Dan Rys

Previously: Tupac’s Biopic Is Picked Up By A Film Company
Lil Boosie Sees Similarities In Him And Tupac
Tupac Shakur Was Almost In Star Wars