Filmmaker Allen Hughes, who recently directed The Defiant Ones, has landed a deal to direct a five-part docuseries featuring Tupac Shakur, as reported by Deadline. For the first time, Hughes will access to all of Tupac’s released and unreleased recordings, as well as the artist’s poetry and writings at his disposal to produce the first full-length documentary the life and death of the icon
As Billboard has noted, this film project marks the first time Shakur’s estate will be fully involved with a documentarian for such an extensive project on the late rapper’s life.
Ironically, Allen Hughes and Tupac were acquainted with each other. Shakur was originally cast to play “Sharif” in Menace II Society, but it was reported that tension rose on the set after Shakur requested a different role, the role of “O-Dog” played by Larenz Tate. This lead to an altercation on the set of Spice 1’s music video for “Trigga Gots No Heart,” which was part of the film soundtrack with Tupac assaulting Hughes and eventually landed him in jail for 15 days.
In an interview with JOE TV about the assault, Hughes said, “What the beef was over … [Shakur] experienced massive fame [at the time] because of [his role in the film ‘Juice’ and his second album, and his diet — few people know this — consisted of weed, chicken wings and Hennessey. Not a great mix! And that was it. On one level, Tupac was one of the sweetest people I ever met. He apologized in Vibe magazine [a few] months before he died. I didn’t really come to peace with it until I was done with ‘The Defiant Ones.’ ”
Hughes is producing and directing the series, along with fellow executive producers Lasse Järvi and Charles D. King. So far, no release date has been announced.
