The past few days have seen some pretty ridiculous music movie stories circulating, which should serve as a general reminder to bloggers everywhere of a rule that you can’t forget: if the story sounds too good to be true and originates from the British press, triple check your sources. Especially when it’s an old rumor.
Making the rounds recently was a report from UK paper The Daily Express that Robert Pattinson was going to play the late singer Jeff Buckley in an upcoming biopic. The quotes originated from an unknown Hollywood insider and worse, this rumor isn’t even new — it first popped up back in 2009. We reached out to one of the producers on the gestating film who told us “I did see [the U.K. report], it’s pretty funny.” So sorry, RPatz lovers, he won’t be crooning “Hallelujah” on your prom night anytime soon.
Meanwhile, an even messier story began making the rounds about the long-in-the-works biopic of Tupac Shakur set to be helmed by Antoine Fuqua. A synopsis and character sheet was first dug up revealing that *gasp!* — people from Tupac’s life were going to feature in the film! — and that it was gearing up to shoot in April. Paste magazine then didn’t read the initial post carefully and somehow came to the conclusion that Jada Pinkett and Suge Knight were going to play themselves in the film. And thus a game of internet telephone tag began, but we untangled the wires.
Reps for Antoine Fuqua said he was shooting the Fox pilot “Exit Strategy” in April and the report was false. However, it remains one of the many projects he is developing and hopes to direct in the future. Reps for Jada Pinkett Smith did not return inquiries about her involvement (though again, she’s a character in the film and the internet chinese whispers distorted that). We were too scared to call Suge Knight. That guy is scary.
So, no Jeff Buckley or Tupac biopics are imminent folks. As you were.