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Artist News
John Singleton quits Tupac biopic, plans rival film
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 10 April 2015
Director John Singleton has said that, following his departure from a planned biopic about the life of rapper Tupac Shakur, he now plans to focus instead on making a biopic about the life of rapper Tupac Shakur. You wait years for one and then…
Writing on Instagram, under a screengrab of an article from The Wrap announcing Carl Franklin as his replacement on the original Shakur film project, Singleton said that “the reason I am not making this picture is because the people involved aren’t really respectful of the legacy of Tupac Amaru Shakur”.
He continued: “To Pac’s real fans just know I am still planning a movie on Tupac – it doesn’t matter what they do, mine will be better. Tupac was much more than a hip hop artist, he was a black man guided by his passions. Of most importance was his love of black people and culture, something the people involved in this movie know nothing about”.
And he went on: “How you gonna make a movie about a man when you suing his mother to get the rights to tell his story?! They have no true love for Pac, so this movie will not be made with love! And that’s why my ass isn’t involved! If Tupac knew what was going on he’d ride on all these fools and take it to the streets. But I won’t do that, I’ll just make my own project”.
Singleton worked with Shakur while he was still alive on 1993 film ‘Poetic Justice’, which also starred Janet Jackson. He remained close to the rapper’s family after his death in 1996. He signed on to direct film company Morgan Creek’s documentary last year, but claimed earlier this month that it was “on hold”.