12 Years a Slave helmer Steve McQueen will direct a Tupac Shakur documentary that will be supported by the late rapper's estate.
Shakur
Estate trustee Tom Whalley and Amaru Entertainment, the company created
by Afeni Shakur to release her son’s posthumous projects, announced
today that Nigel Sinclair’s White Horse Pictures and Jayson Jackson will
team up to produce a fully authorized documentary.
“I am
extremely moved and excited to be exploring the life and times of this
legendary artist," said McQueen. "I attended NYU film school in 1993 and
can remember the unfolding hip-hop world and mine overlapping with
Tupac’s through a mutual friend in a small way. Few, if any shined
brighter than Tupac Shakur. I look forward to working closely with his
family to tell the unvarnished story of this talented man.”
Shakur was the iconic west coast hip-hop artist, actor, poet and
activist, who sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Along with
his fame came controversy and violence, including imprisonment and his
controversial time at Death Row Records. The rapper, who was killed in
Las Vegas at the age of 25, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7.
The
life and mysterious death of the rapper has been the subject of
multiple big screen projects. Music video director Benny Boom's biopic All Eyez on Me
is set for release this summer via Lionsgate. While Johnny Depp is set
to play the Los Angeles police detective who investigated the murders of
Tupac and his rival Notorious B.I.G. in Open Roads' Labyrinth.