EXCLUSIVE Will the biopic of Tupac Shakur ever get to the screen? It does seem like respected producer-director- writer John Singleton is out as director. And replacing him is Carl Franklin. Astounding news because Singleton has been working on the film and the script for a long time. We talked about it just six weeks ago at the Oscars at length. But on Thursday he told XXL Magazine the movie was “on hold.”
Now, this morning, Franklin’s name is attached to the casting call for Tupac himself. Frankling is the much respected director of terrific films and more recently classy TV shows like “Homeland” and “The Leftovers.” But the switch is stunning.
In the XXL article, Singleton may have tipped his hand about the disagreements backstage: “I think the picture is not going to be good unless it’s offensive to some people. So, whenever you make a movie, you always have different elements that people have their say about. But when I’m making my movies, John Singleton movies, it’s really just my voice. So I can’t be listening to all the other suggestions of all these other people and shyt. So we’re not going to pull the trigger on that until it’s right. If somebody else wants to do something different then they can do something different. But if it’s going to be right, it’s going to be right. It’s going to be something that potentially adorns ‘Pac’s legacy.”
The Tupac movie is coming from Morgan Creek, a company with a long history of divisiveness. So keep reading, because more will be said soon, no doubt…
