Camron Jones has joined nothin but a gangsta party.
The actor, best known for his work on Amazon Prime’s young adult drama Panic, is set to portray influential rapper Tupac Shakur in Snoop, Universal Pictures’ biopic of entertainment mogul and music icon Snoop Dogg.
Craig Brewer is directing the feature, which is being produced by Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer, the veteran producer behind the semi-autobiographical Eminem drama 8 Mile, and the company’s Allan Mandelbaum. Snoop Dogg and Death Row Pictures president Sara Ramaker are also producing.
Jonathan Daviss, one of the stars of Netflix series Outer Banks, is portraying Snoop Dogg, who emerged from Long Beach, California, in the 1990s to become one of the biggest names in rap. The feature has been casting up in recent weeks and now has Myles Bullock Be as Dr. Dre and Lauren London as Snoop Dogg’s mother on the roll call.
Shakur was famously the troubled West Coast rapper who had success in the recording world as well as Hollywood, appearing in movies such as John Singleton’s Poetic Justice and crime movie Gridlock’d, but who also served time in prison. He was ultimately killed in a drive-by in 1996.
Snoop Dogg and Shakur were both signed to Death Row Records and collaborated on hits such as “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted.” The two had a major falling out when Shakur pressed Snoop Dogg to take sides in the West Coast-East Coast rivalry.
Brewer, who recently directed Song Sung Blue for Universal’s specialty studio Focus Features, wrote the latest draft of the script, which was initially written by Joe Robert Cole. The feature will incorporate music from Snoop Dogg’s vast catalog.
Michael Beugg and Jeb Brody are exec producing.
Jones, who has notched credits on such shows as grown-ish, The Purge and Shameless, will appear in the upcoming third season of Starz’ P-Valley. He is repped by Clear Talent Group and Venture Entertainment Partners.
