"12 Years A Slave" Director To Make Tupac Documentary

By Josh Tarpley
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Academy Award nominated director Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) will make his documentary debut telling the story of famed hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur. McQueen has secured a deal with the Shakur Estate to tell the story of the late rapper, who was the first solo hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Click beyond the jump to read more about the Tupac documentary project

Whether it be 2015’s “Straight Outta Compton” or the Tupac biopic “All Eyez On Me” coming out later this year, there is a growing interest in this segment of music history and filmmakers are getting to tell these stories when it years past the opportunities would not have been there. McQueen is following the example of Ava Duvernay (“Selma”), a fellow director who (successfully) tried their hand at documentary filmmaking with Netflix’s “13th.” McQueen had the following to say about the project,

“I am extremely moved and excited to be exploring the life and times of this legendary artist. 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. Few, if any shined brighter than Tupac Shakur. I look forward to working closely with his family to tell the unvarnished story of this talented man.”

While “12 Years a Slave” won Best Picture in 2013, McQueen did not receive the accompanying Best Director prize (2013 proved the new trend of Picture/Director splits we’ve seen these past years). Whether it be “Hunger” or “Shame” or “12 Years a Slave,” all of McQueen’s efforts have been met with critical acclaim, so whatever he decided to do next would be met with high anticipation. Tupac’s extremely successful career only lasted 5 years, so it will be interesting to see if McQueen goes the “cradle to grave” route or decides to focus in on a specific aspect of his life.

As mentioned, “All Eyez On Me” will be released in theaters on June 16, so this documentary will be riding the wave of increased interest. Though no production schedule has been announced, a 2018 release date is expected for McQueen’s documentary. What do you guys think? Were you expecting Steve McQueen to jump into the documentary game? Are you looking forward to these new explorations of Tupac’s life? Let us now in the comments below!
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You can follow Josh and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film/Television on Twitter at @JoshTarpley7