Status: Development Status Unknown as of April 24, 2017 Release Date: TBA Genre: Drama/Biography Rating: Not Available Studio: Four Stars International/Equinox Films Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall Cast: David Harewood (Paul Robeson), Louis Gossett, Jr. (W.E.B. Dubois), Sydney Tamiia Poitier (Eslanda Goode Robeson).
Details:Variety reports that Vondie Curtis-Hall will direct the upcoming Paul Robeson biopic with shooting set for early 2014.
“Robeson” has been in development since early 2013 with South African director Darrell Roodt attached to helm and David Harewood on board to play the lead. Roodt is no longer attached and producers have opted to read other actors for the role.
Robeson, born in 1898, was a singer, actor and orator from the 1920s through the 1950s best known for his acting in “Othello” and his singing of “Ol’ Man River.” Robeson’s political activism brought him to the attention of Senator Joseph McCarthy, leading to the revocation of his passport for eight years despite his contributions as an entertainer to the Allied forces during WWII. (Source: Variety).
Status: Development Status Unknown as of June 14, 2013 Release Date: TBA Genre: Drama/Biography Rating: Not Available Studio: Arclight Films Director: Julien Temple Cast: Jesse L. Martin (Marvin Gaye), Brendan Gleeson (Freddy Cousaert), S. Epatha Merkerson (Alberta Gay), Clarke Peters (Harvey Fuqua), Dwight Henry (Marvin Gaye, Sr.)
Story: The movie chronicles late Motown legend Marvin Gaye’s self-imposed exile in Europe after years of battling drugs, domestic issues and label headaches. There, he was rescued by a promoter who helped Gaye record his biggest-selling album, “Midnight Love,” which yielded the monster comeback hit, “Sexual Healing.” Gaye’s life was cut short the day before his 45th birthday in 1984, when his father killed him.
Details: The pic will center on the final years of Gaye’s life in London from 1981, when he was suffering from an addiction to alcohol and an allergy to the taxman, and how he was rescued by music promoter Freddy Cousaert and spirited away to his flat in Ostend, Belgium, to recover.
Various producers have spent years trying to make a movie about Gaye. Originally, the project was intended to cover a larger portion of his life but was refocused on his final years because of rights issues with his Motown-produced records.
As reported by Rolling Stone Magazine in March 2013, Lenny Kravitz dropped out of the long-anticipated biopic to be replaced by Law & Order alumnus Jesse L. Martin. Deadline Hollywood reports. Martin, was actually attached to star in a previous version of the film which was being produced by James Gandolfini back in 2008. No word was given for why Kravitz bowed out, though news that the rocker would be portraying Gaye reportedly led to objections from the singer’s son, Marvin Gaye III, who threatened legal action if Kravitz did not drop out. (Source(s): Black Actors; Movie Insider; Photo Credit: ThisisRnB.com).
Release Date: 8/14/15 Genre: Drama/Biography Rating: Not Available Studio(s): Circle of Confusion, Cube Vision, Universal Pictures. Director: F. Gary Gray Cast: Corey Hawkins (Dr. Dre), Jason Mitchell (Eazy-E), O’Shea Jackson, Jr. (Ice Cube), Keith Stanfield (Snoop Dogg), Alexandra Shipp (Kim), Aldis Hodge (MC Ren), R. Marcos Taylor (Suge Knight).
Synopsis: In the mid-1980s, the streets of Compton, California, were some of the most dangerous in the country. When five young men translated their experiences growing up into brutally honest music that rebelled against abusive authority, they gave an explosive voice to a silenced generation. Following the meteoric rise and fall of N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton tells the astonishing story of how these youngsters revolutionized music and pop culture forever the moment they told the world the truth about life in the hood and ignited a cultural war.
Starring O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, Straight Outta Compton is directed by F. Gary Gray (Friday, Set It Off, The Italian Job). The drama is produced by original N.W.A. members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, who are joined by fellow producers Matt Alvarez and Tomica Woods-Wright. Will Packer serves as executive producer of the film alongside Gray. Photo Source: Official Facebook page. Source(s): Official Facebook page, Movie Insider.
Status: Development Unknown (Script as of 1/17/17) Release Date: TBA Genre: Drama/Biography Rating: Not Available Studio:Specialty Films Director: Not Available Cast: David Oyelowo, Danny Strong
Details:Deadline reports that David Oyelowo is ready to play iconic boxer Sugar Ray Robinson in a biopic based on the Wil Haygood biography Sweet Thunder: The Life And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson. Moneyball producer Rachael Horovitz and Game Change scribe Danny Strong will produce, and Oyelowo will be executive producer.
According to Black Actors, the film will focus on Robinson’s early career and possibly the organized crime circles that controlled the boxing industry in the 1940s and 1950s. (Source(s): Deadline; Black Actors).
Status: Development Status – Script as of 9/17/17 Release Date: TBA Genre: Biography Rating: Not Available Studio: Louverture Films Director: Danny Glover Cast: TBA Story: Haitian revolution hero Toussaint L’Ouverture led one of the few successful slave uprisings in history. The slaves defeated French, Spanish and British armies and established the first independent Black republic, naming L’Ouverture president for life. He was captured and imprisoned by the French and died a year later.
Details: As reported in The Guardian, on July 27, 2012, for more than 30 years, Glover has been trying to make a biopic about the leader of the Haitian revolution. True, the story of L’Ouverture has been told before, notably in a play by CLR James that was staged in London’s West End in 1936 starring Paul Robeson, and more recently in a French TV series starring Haitian actor, Jimmy Jean-Louis. But Glover believes his treatment will be the first to “have the epic scale these events require.”
But when will we see this directorial debut? In 2006, Glover assembled a cast including Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mos Def, and planned to shoot his film in South Africa and Venezuela, thanks to $18m from one of Glover’s heroes, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Six years on, filming has not started. “We’ll get the film done,” says Glover. “We came so close so many times, you could almost taste it, man. We came that close and we’re going to do it.” (Source: Shadow and Act).
Release Date: 6/16/17 Genre: Drama/Biography Studio: Morgan Creek Productions, Open Road Films Director: Benny Boom
Cast: Demetrius Shipp, Jr. (Tupac Shakur), Danai Gurira (Afeni Shakur), Jamal Woolard (Biggie Smalls), Kat Graham (Jada Pinkett), Annie Ilonzeh (Kidada Jones), Cory Hardrict (Hatian Jack), Grace Gibson (Faith Evans), Dominic L. Santana (Suge Knight).
Story: Chronicles the life and legacy of Tupac Shakur.
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Update:Cinema Blend stated on 4/25/16, that the death and murder of Tupac Shakur on September 7, 1996, was obviously going to play a major part in his impending biopic. As it turns out, the production crew for All Eyez On Me returned to this exact location on the Las Vegas strip to recreate Tupac’s death. TMZ, was on hand to collect an array of images of the shoot, which show actors Demetrius Shipp, Jr. and Dominic L. Santana, who are playing Tupac and Suge Knight, respectively, covered in blood and in character.
All Eyez On Me has been in development over at Morgan Creek Productions since 2011. Over the last five years it has had many different iterations, with the likes of Antoine Fuqua, Carl Franlkin, and John Singleton working on the project. But in November 2015, after a legal kerfuffle, it was reported that music video director Benny Boom would instead oversee All Eyez On Me. As well as Demetrius Shipp, Jr. and Dominic L. Santana, the likes of Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead), Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead), Jamie Hector (The Wire), and Jamal Woolard, who will be reprising his role as The Notorious B.I.G. from the 2009 biopic of the musician, are part of the cast. The film is also going to feature incarnations of Puff Daddy, Jada Pinkett, Faith Evans, Kidada Jones, Ray Luv, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre, in a similar style to Straight Outta Compton. Source: Cinema Blend; Photo Source: Shadow and Act.
Update: On 12/24/15 Deadline reported that the long-gestating Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez On Me is finally filming with the lead cast in place, as newcomer Demetrius Shipp, Jr. has landed the job of portraying the legendary rapper. Shipp, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Shakur, is joined by an unexpected costar, as Jamal Woolard has been cast as Shakur’s former friend turned bitter rival, rapper Christopher Wallace, AKA The Notorious B.I.G. Woolard notably made his own screen debut playing B.I.G. in the 2009 biopic Notorious.
In addition, Deadline announced on 1/16/16 that Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira will play Tupac’s mom Afeni Shakur. In Afeni Shakur (who is an exec producer on the film and the keeper of the flame on her son’s estate), Gurira plays a complex woman. A political activist and member of the Black Panthers, Afeni raised her son to be a voracious reader with a political awareness that informed his development as a street poet. The film reported covers Tupac’s rise to stardom as a hip-hop artist and actor, as well as his imprisonment and prolific, controversial stint at Death Row Records, where he was steeped in the East Coast/West Coast rap war.
All Eyez OnMe has had a troubled road to production. In-development since 2011, John Singleton was brought on board to direct in 2014, but left the project because of differences with the studio over how the story of Shakur’s life would be told. Music video director Benny Boom was ultimately hired to replace Singleton. Although it took a long time for the film to make it to the start line, the timing seems fortuitous after the out-sized grosses of another hip-hop origin story, Straight Outta Compton. Source: Deadline.
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Details: The life and legacy of Tupac Shakur, including his rise to superstardom as a hip hop artist and actor, as well as his imprisonment and prolific, controversial time at Death Row Records, where he was steeped in the East coast/West coast rap war.
John Singleton has closed a deal to rewrite, direct and produce the biopic about the iconic rapper, which would follow his rise to being one of the most popular hip-hop artists as well as his murder following a boxing match in 1996 in Las Vegas.
Director/producer John Singleton had firsthand experience with Shakur, who starred in Singleton’s Poetic Justice opposite Janet Jackson.
The next move is to find the actor to play Shakur. Singelton will soon dive into rewriting the script, with hopes of beginning production sometime this June. Source(s): Variety; Movie Insider).
Status: Development Status Unknown as of April 24, 2017
Black Cinema Connection 