Jay Z Is Producing The Richard Pryor Biopic

Jay Z‘s new television production deal is already making some big waves. It has been announced that “retired drug dealer” is producing the upcoming Richard Pryor biopic.

       

The announcement was made alongside the news that Jay Z would also be producing a docu-series on Kalief Browder. The two projects come from a partnership that Jay has formed with television heavyweights The Weinstein Company.



The film itself, Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said, has beens stuck in production purgatory for more than a decade. Originally, the film was to be handled by Chris Rock and Adam Sandler with Marlon Wayans portraying Pryor. Then the project fell into the hands of director Lee Daniels with Mike Epps slated to play the iconic comedian while Eddie Murphy played his father and Oprah Winfrey appearing as his grandmother.

But then Daniels abandoned the project before production began. He has now reportedly returned to create the film with the same cast still intact. The movie will be the first incarnation of Pryor’s life to ever hit the big screen.

Filming is set to start in 2017.