The long-gestating Tupac Shakur biopic has spent the years being swapped back and forth between “Training Day” director Antoine Fuqua and “Boyz n the Hood” director John Singleton, but now it appears the film has finally found its helmer.
THR reports Singleton—who originally left the project in 2011—has officially signed on to the project and will not only direct the biopic but also produce and rewrite the the script. Per the trade, Singleton “will begin working on a draft of the screenplay immediately, with an eye toward a summer start date.”
Though he started his career making critically acclaimed films focused on life in the inner city—Singleton was the youngest person to ever be nominated for Best Director and the first African-American to boot—his work in the new millennium has had a clear commercial bent with films like “2 Fast 2 Furious” and the Taylor Lautner franchise non-starter “Abduction.” It’s clear Singleton cares deeply for the source material—he cast Tupac in “Poetic Justice”—so we hope he’ll be in back in top form.
Only thing left now is to guess which actor will play Tupac. Although we once touted Anthony Mackie as being a great choice, after last year there’s no way Michael B. Jordan isn’t on the shortlist to play the iconic rapper. That said, there has also long been talk of casting an unknown in the lead role too. Leave your guesses and friendly wagers below.