B.I.G. Revealed!
Late Rapper's Biopic Moves Forward As First Picture Is Released.
The first pictures of young actor Jamal Woolard as late rapper The Notorious B.I.G. have emerged on the official blog for the movie, entitled "Notorious".
George Tillman Jr. will direct the biopic about the rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G. The filmmaker had previously worked with Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr. on the movie “Men of Honour”. The rest of the high-ranking crew are made up of friends and family of B.I.G., real name Christopher Wallace. His mother, Voletta Wallace, will produce alongside Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts, who managed the artist throughout his career. Wallace’s most famous associate, Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, will also serve as an executive producer.
The Man Who Would Be Biggie
The man filling the weighty role of B.I.G. is Jamal Woolard. A Brooklyn native, he was the end result of years of searching for the right actor to fill the role, both physically and in terms of personality. Barrow writes on the films official blog* that Woolard “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 demeanour is very reminiscent of B.I.G and we look forward to sharing this ride with him.” Woolard has no acting experience to speak of, although he does, according to Barrow, have some experience in the music industry.
Filling another pivotal role is Anthony Mackie, who will be playing Wallace’s long-time rival Tupac Shakur. Mackie has a long list of appearances in big movies such as “Million Dollar Baby”, “The Manchurian Candidate” and “8 Mile”, although his biggest role to date has been playing the lead in Spike Lee’s “She Hate Me”. He is currently in pre-production for another legendary role, that of Olympic athlete Jesse Owens.
P.Diddy On The Big Screen
Another young actor to take a pivotal part will be Derek Luke, who will play P. Diddy in the film. Luke starred in “Antoine Fisher” opposite Denzel Washington, and most recently acted in “Lions for Lambs” with Tom Cruise. Perhaps the most famous name on the credits will be that of Angela Bassett, who will play Wallace’s mother, Voletta. She’s no stranger to musical biopics, having played Tina Turner in the movie “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”
The film is slated for a January 2009 release, through Fox Searchlight Pictures. A theatrical account of events up to and including the rapper’s untimely death in the mid-90’s has not been attempted, although several documentaries on both Wallace and the feud between him and Shakur have been made. The most famous example of this was maverick filmmaker Nick Broomfield’s documentary “Biggie & Tupac” in 2002.
*Source: Fox Searchlight
