Eddie Murphy may be putting down the fat suits and picking up the crack pipe as he makes a move that may show him in a light that we haven’t seen him in for years.
Eddie Murphy and Spike Lee are teaming up for a cinematic event like no other….the biopic of Marion Barry!
After years of talk, the unbelievable-but-true story of Marion Barry may be coming soon to a flat-screen TV near you — starring Eddie Murphy as D.C.’s former mayor-for-life.
We’re told that a still-untitled Barry biopic is in development by HBO Films, with the veteran comic and Oscar nominee attached as the star, Spike Lee as director, John Ridley as writer, and all three as executive producers.
D.C. journalists Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood have been tapped as consultants — “Dream City,” their 1994 book about D.C. politics, is among the source material the creators are eyeing — as have Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer, the filmmakers behind the 2009 documentary “The Nine Lives of Marion Barry.”
HBO officials would not comment. It’s not the first time the network has considered milking the Barry drama: In 2002, filming was reportedly due to start on a movie starring Jamie Foxx and written by Chris Rock that somehow never happened.
A rep for Councilmember Barry said he did not know about the latest project and had no comment.
HBO, plus Spike, Eddie, & Crack?…Gotta be a hit in the making.
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