tupac shakur Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I'm sure that if Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur were still alive today, they would have loved to brag over which one got their life story on the big screen first. Tupac wins if you count the doc in 2003, though Notorious made Biggie the first to receive a biopic -- so I'm not sure who wins, exactly. Nevertheless, Tupac's family wants a biopic now and The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, and her production company, Amaru Entertainment, are suing Morgan's Creek Entertainment over their deal for a biopic of the murdered rapper, leaving the hip-hop flick in legal limbo.

There have been rumblings regarding a film for almost a year now, and with the success of the B.I.G. flick, Notorious, it would seem to be the perfect time for Shakur. But Morgan's Creek's deal first started going south when they filed a lawsuit "claiming that Amaru, which controls the Tupac estate, backed out of a done deal to sell life rights for a biopic about the slain rapper-actor." Now Amaru is countersuing, and according to their complaint, "Morgan Creek allegedly was one of several suitors for the project, including Paramount, Fox Searchlight, Kennedy/Marshall and Brett Ratner's Rat Entertainment. The cross-complaint says key details of a deal, including an executive producer credit and backend participation for Afeni Shakur, were not worked out with Morgan's Creek and that she hadn't even seen the proposed contract."

Wayne Barrow, producer of the film Notorious, has released the first photo of Jamal Woolard in the role of B.I.G. (aka Christopher Wallace) over on his official blog. Dude looks just like B.I.G., who will always go down as one of New York's greatest rap artists. Underneath the photo, Wayne writes, "Although Jamal has a bit of history of his own in the music industry, he is still relatively unknown, which we thought was an integral element in filling the role. Jamal, a Brooklyn native, has been working hard to capture the spirit of Christopher's character, the soul of the man. We are extremely excited about our choice of casting, his natural charm and charismatic demeanor is very reminiscent of B.I.G and we look forward to sharing this ride with him..."

This should be a fascinating little picture, especially if you were/are a fan of Biggie Smalls and his music. (My wife still rocks out the occasional Biggie track in the car during a long road trip.) Starring alongside Woolard will be Angela Bassett (playing Smalls' mother, Voletta), Derek Luke (as Sean "Diddy" Combs) and Anthony Mackie (as Tupac Shakur). George Tillman Jr. will direct, while the film is set to head into production on March 24 in New York City. Fox Searchlight has already set a release date of January 16, 2009 for Notorious.

So, does this guy look like Biggie ... or what?

Will Smith isn't the only one who got his start on famous '90s sitcoms. While he was hanging out in Bel Air, his future wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, was in A Different World. After Lisa Bonet hit the road and the show stewed for a bit, Jada signed on to play Lena James. She was lucky enough to crush on Dwayne Wayne for a bit, and spent her sophomore year living with Gina and Charmaine, who made her way to Hillman after hanging with Pam on The Cosby Show. Man, this brings back memories!

In the clip above, Lena gets grabbed and kissed by one of her old flings, who just happens to be Tupac Shakur. All tough in his Christmas elf get-up (which gets mentioned in the clip), he gives Lena's boyfriend a hard time, teasing him for his "Richie Cunningham" looks. She, meanwhile, makes me grateful that we've come to a time where fashion is at least a little less spastic. Jada's wearing a cone-headed sort of hairdo, white tank top, and black suspenders. Okay, the outfit isn't too bad, but that hair is just terrible.

And to think this tough-looking gal and a wacky Fresh Prince would become Hollywood's supercouple!