Tupac Director Antoine Fuqua Leaves Flick; On Board For Em's 'Southpaw'

(AllHipHop News) After years of trying to get a Tupac Shakur biopic made, fans rejoiced last year when it was announced that director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Brooklyn’s Finest) would be helming a feature-length film based on the life and times of one of the greatest rappers, poets, and personality’s of all time.

Today, that is no longer the case.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Fuqua has left the "Tupac" biopic to direct Dreamworks Pictures’ Southpaw, a boxing project written by “Sons of Anarchy” creator Kurt Sutter and starring Eminem ("8 Mile").

No reason was given for Fuqua’s departure.

"Southpaw" tells the story of a left-handed welterweight (Eminem) whose quick rise to stardom turns into a life of trials and tribulations that he must overcome to reclaim his crown.

Currently there is no start or release date, but one can expect the film to arrive in theaters no earlier than 2012.

Southpaw writer Kurt Sutter said:

"I took meetings with Marshall's producing partners over the past 7 years, looking for something to do together. I know he's very selective and doesn't do a lot," Southpaw writer Kurt Sutter. "But he shared so much of his personal struggle in this raw and very honest album, one that I connected with on a lot of levels... At its core, this is a retelling of his struggles over the last five years of his life, using the boxing analogy."

Despite the "Tupac" biopic being in question now that Fuqua has left, a script that Shakur had written while in prison titled "Live 2 Tell," about a drug dealer’s attempt to turn his life around, has been purchased and picked up by NStar Studios with a budget of $11 million.

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