Tupac Shakur Documentary in the Works From Steve McQueen
Hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur will be the subject of a new documentary from “12 Years a Slave” director Steve McQueen. The authorized doc is being produced by Amaru Entertainment and Nigel Sinclair’s White Horse Pictures. Sinclair most recently produced the 2016 Ron Howard documentary “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week.”
“I am extremely moved and excited to be exploring the life and times of this legendary artist,” McQueen said in a statement. “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.”
Shakur’s recording career lasted just five years, but his records have sold more than 75 million copies. In December of 2016, it was announced that Shakur would become the first solo hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Shakur’s aunt Gloria Cox will executive produce. “It has never been our intention to rewrite the story of Tupac,” Cox said in the statement. “Our goal has always been to tell the true story, which has never been done before in such a complete way.” Cox added that Tupac wanted to make a documentary about his life at the time of his death in 1996, as did his mother, the former political activist and Black Panther Afeni Shakur, who died last May. Jayson Jackson (“What Happened, Miss Simone?”), Nicholas Ferrall and Shakur Estate Trustee Tom Whalley will also serve as producers.
“Tupac’s timeless message resonates today as strongly as it did when I first discovered him in 1990, possibly more so,” Whalley said in the statement. “I have an obligation to both Tupac and Afeni Shakur, to make sure this project becomes realized. In the final year of her life, Afeni and I spoke often of her desire to have her son’s true story be told.”
The new documentary comes following the Lionsgate biopic “All Eyez on Me,” which tells the story of Shakur from his early days in New York City to becoming one of world’s most recognized and influential voices. The film stars Demetrius Shipp Jr. as Shakur and hits theaters on June 16.
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