Two years after it came out, we’re finally feeling the effects of Straight Outta Compton on mainstream cinema.
That excellent film boosted the careers of its core cast (Corey Hawkins is not-Jack Bauer on the new 24 series, he and Jason Mitchell both appeared in Kong: Skull Island), got F. Gary Gray the director’s chair for the latest Fast and Furious movie, and gave Morgan Creek Productions the swift kick in the ass they needed to fast-track All Eyez On Me, the Tupac Shakur biopic they had been kicking around for a couple of years but could never really get off the ground until Compton made like a billion dollars.
And hey, a new trailer they dropped this week looks pretty cool!
First, holy crap does Demetrius Shipp Jr. look like the spitting image of Shakur.
You’d think they’d actually dragged Tupac off the island where he’s living with Elvis and got him to act again (could you imagine how many heads would explode if that were the ending? We’d hate to be an usher in that theater). It’s definitely pretty crazy for Shipp, who’d been called “Pac” for years by his co-workers at Target, and it looks like he can carry his own. Notorious star Jamal Woolard is reprising his role as Biggie Smalls (that movie is shockingly underrated, too), and The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira rounds out the core cast as political activist and Tupac’s mom, Afeni Shakur. Benny Boom (Next Day Air) directs and also has one of the best names in modern Hollywood.
Here’s a synopsis, but hey, you know most of the details by now:
‘All Eyez On Me’ chronicles the life and legacy of Tupac Shakur, including his rise to superstardom as a hip hop artist, actor, poet and activist, as well as his imprisonment and prolific, controversial time at Death Row Records. Against insurmountable odds, Shakur rose to become a cultural icon whose career and persona both continue to grow long after his passing.
All Eyez On Me hits theaters June 16.
