McQueen tapped to direct Tupac doc
Academy Award-winner Steve McQueen is set to direct a documentary about Tupac Shakur. Shakur Estate trustee Tom Whalley and Amaru Entertainment said the film is fully sanctioned by the late hip-hop artist’s estate.
McQueen best known for directing which won the best picture Oscar in 2014 and earned him a best director nomination.
The director said he looks forward to working with Shakur’s family to bring his unvarnished story to life. Gloria Cox, Shakur’s aunt and late mother’s sister, will serve as an executive producer.
“Few, if any shined brighter than Tupac Shakur,” said McQueen, who hinted there was some overlap between himself and Shakur during his time at NYU film school in 1993.
Whalley hopes the documentary will help take Shakur’s legacy beyond “the refraction of the headlines, the controversy, and the tragic way his life ended.” Shakur died in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996, at age 25.
Cox said the genesis of the project started with Shakur himself in 1996 and was something that his mother, Afeni Shakur, continued pursuing until her death last year.
“Our goal has always been to tell the true story, which has never been done before in such a complete way. My sister always said to me, ‘We are not in the business of defending Tupac. Our job is to allow him to be seen in the most complete way, so his actions, his choices, and his words will allow him to speak for himself,’ ” Cox wrote in a statement. “I believe this film will do exactly that.”
No release date or timeline was announced for McQueen’s documentary. The director hasn’t released a feature film since
but has the Gillian Flynn-penned crime drama
starring Liam Neeson, on his schedule.
Shakur’s legacy is having a moment in Hollywood movies. The prolific artist will also get the biopic treatment in which hits theatres on June 16. Newcomer Demetrius Shipp Jr. is playing Shakur.
Bon Cop Bad Cop 2
Now in theatres A decade later, Patrick Huard and Colm Feore may or may not be wiser, but they are naturally older looking in the bilingual comedydrama
The first film set a Canadian box office record for a Quebec-made production at more than $12.7 million by exploiting the rift between a straitlaced anglophone investigator and a rebellious francophone detective.
This time around, Feore’s Martin Ward is attached to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while Huard’s David Bouchard still bends rules as an undercover agent for the Sûreté du Québec. They meet again when Ward’s RCMP unit busts a car-theft ring that Bouchard has infiltrated. Together, the odd-couple cops decide to join forces. Their goal is to expose what might be a burgeoning terrorist plot linked to the stolen vehicles.
Huard, who also wrote the screenplay, and Feore, offer their considered opinions: “There is more humour and more real emotion and not just the perception of two different solitudes,” Huard says. “And this time we tell a story about friendship. I also tried to write something that was more intricate in terms of cultural humour, and push the envelope everywhere.”
“Gratitude would be the first thing I thought of,” says Feore. “Patrick wrote a really good part for me.”
“Of course, when you know your partner so well, you can throw curve balls and you know he will throw them back at you,” Huard says.
“I know Patrick is specific, and he takes such great time to prepare the script, and he was constantly refining it,” Feore says.
Huard says the alteration reflects a changing dynamic in Canada. “It’s not political, it’s sociological and a different way of looking at things. As Colm says, ‘It’s like two decks of cards and you shuffle together.’ ” “The truth is we have a lot in Patrick Huard common,” Feore says. “We’ve had highs and lows in our careers. We have beautiful, smart and powerful daughters and we have smart and artistically engaged wives ...”
“So many times I’ve watched American shows making fun of Canadians,” Huard says. “I said, ‘I’m going to turn the tables.’ ”
Adds Feore: “We are fundamentally different, so this exaggeration of our neighbours to the south is revenge for years of Americans not knowing what they are talking about when it comes to Canadians.” Bouchard is being held at a smalltown Maine police station because they don’t believe he’s an officer.
That has some of the local cops speculating about his nationality. One of them decides Huard’s character might be Swedish because he speaks fractured English just like the Swedish Chef on
Absurd? Maybe not. During meetings in the U.S., Huard says he’s been mistaken for a Swede, a Belgian and even an Australian.
“I had so much fun writing it,” he says of the scene. “I was laughing to myself when I wrote it. A lot of people told me I was pushing too much, but I like it.”
So many times I’ve watched American shows making fun of Canadians, I said, ‘I’m going to turn the tables.’
Huard’s been told the film will have a tough time attracting customers in the U.S. because American moviegoers don’t enjoy movies with sub-titles while the French might be put off “because it’s pretty harsh French.”
“But I didn’t do it to conquer the world,” Huard says. “I did it for the Canadians and the Québécois. It was always my goal and my purpose.”
Was he ever tempted to compromise? No way.
“I said, ‘That’s it, that’s all.’ ”