John Singleton Refuses To Go Through with Tupac Biopic

John Singleton clarified via Instagram, to Tupac’s real fans why he has pulled out of directing the Tupac biopic. See his statement below.

Real talk! The reason I am not making this picture is because the people involved aren’t really respectful of the legacy of Tupac Amaru Shakur. I won’t say much if you want you can read my articles in Hollywood Reporter on authenticity in Black Storytelling … To Pac’s real fans just know I am still planning a movie on Tupac … It doesn’t matter what they do mines 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… Real talk! 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 4 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. What Yall think about that?!!

It’s pretty clear that Singleton is not into the heavy restrictions and unfortunate contradictions that he feels come with working with major studios as black director telling black stories. He also explained to The Hollywood Reporter, “You’ve got a lot of black executives at the studio who are afraid to give their opinion of what black culture is.”

With his above statements, it seems we can expect a cookie cutter version from the studios, with Carl Franklin of Homeland and House of Cards as his replacement, in addition to his own project dedicated to Pac’s legacy. Very much respect to Singleton for maintaining his integrity in this decision.

Written by Rae Witte