Eddie Murphy to Play Parliament Funkadelic Frontman George Clinton in New Film
Eddie Murphy has found his next passion project, a biopic on Rock and Roll Hall of Famer George Clinton, and it seems to have steam moving forward. Deadline brings word that Murphy is in early talks to play the role of Clinton, the leader of funk group Parliament-Funkadelic, in a new biopic being produced by Davis Entertainment. The company is securing the rights to Clinton's story and will then go on to attach a writer and a home to the project. As the trade notes, Murphy currently has a three-picture deal with Amazon following Coming 2 America, meaning the streamer could potentially be where the film lands.
Known as the Godfather of Funk, an innovator in the genre alongside the likes of James Brown, the film will reportedly "tell the story of the iconic musician's humble beginnings," and start in Clinton's birthplace of North Carolina in the 1940s and lead to the formation of Parliament and Funkadelic. The trade further notes that the film will track how he became "a major influence on artists of the hip-hop generation including Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Outkast and Wu-Tang Clan, among many others."
Clinton was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards back in 2019, coming over twenty years after his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 1997. He remains active as a performer and musician, continuing to tour and produce new singles to this day.
After taking some time off, Murphy returned to acting in a big way in 2019 with Dolemite is My Name, the biopic of Blaxploitation and comedy icon Rudy Ray Moore. Another long-gestating passion project for Murphy, developed as early as 2003 with screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. The Murphy-starring film made its way onto Netflix, resulting in huge hit with a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and critical acclaim for Murphy in the role.
According to the trade Murphy has a stacked schedule coming up including You People, a Netflix comedy directed by Kenya Barris where he will star alongside Jonah Hill. A brief description from the streamer describes it as: "A new couple and their families reckon with modern love amid culture clashes, societal expectations and generational differences." Following this they claim that Murphy will return as Axel Foley for Beverly Hills Cop 4 with a shoot scheduled for the summer.
(Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
