B.I.G. biopic coming soon

The 'notorious' rapper's life may become the subject of an Antoine Fuqua film.

Jul 20 2005

The life of late rapper Notorious B.I.G. is set to hit the big screen, with 'Training Day' director Antoine Fuqua in negotiations to direct.

Fox Searchlight has hired B.I.G. biographer Cheo Hodari Coker to write the screenplay, while the rapper's mother Voletta Wallace, and his former managers Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts will produce.

B.I.G., real name Christopher Wallace, was a hugely successful East Coast rapper who, as well as having a lucrative recording career in his own right, also set up the trailblazing Bad Boy Records with close friend, Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs.

However, the hip hop magnate's life was cut short when he was gunned down leaving a Los Angeles party in March 1997, a crime that to this day has never been solved.

Speaking of the project, Barrow said: 'People wanted to give us check and do a film that they wanted to do, but Searchlight gave us the opportunity to really be able to come in and tell the story the way it was supposed to be told.'

He continued: 'It's not just a hip hop film - it's a film of life and a film of love. We didn't want to sell our souls to the devil, so to speak, just to get a check. The story is too important, not just to us but to hip hop.'

Production is due to start early next year, although there's no news yet regarding who will play the B.I.G fellow himself.

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