UPDATE Mar 27, 2023:
During the promotion of his ‘You People’, Eddie Murphy shared exciting news about his upcoming biopic project in which Eddie Murphy is portraying Parliament-Funkadelic frontman George Clinton.
Murphy told Extra, “We met with George, we got the rights. We are trying to get the right writer… I’m dying to tell that story and to play George. He’s a brilliant genius artist and a character, and I would have a blast doing it.”
—– ORIGINAL POSTS MAR 31, 2022 —–
Eddie Murphy is in talks to portray Parliament Funkadelic leader George Clinton in an upcoming biopic.
Clinton is widely considered to be the Godfather of Funk, rivaling James Brown and Sly Stone as the foremost innovators in that musical genre. The film will tell the story of the iconic musician’s humble beginnings in North Carolina in the 1940s to the formation of his groundbreaking bands Parliament and Funkadelic and ultimately to becoming 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 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, alongside 15 other members of Parliament Funkadelic. In 2019, he and those members were given their Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards.
This project would be part of Murphy’s three-picture deal with Amazon. Murphy would also produce the film alongside John Davis and Catherine Davis. They are tying down rights with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and then they will set writers and shop the project.
Murphy next begins production on the Kenya Barris-directed Netflix comedy You People, in which he co-stars with Jonah Hill. That will be followed with Beverly Hills Cop 4 this summer, as he reprises his Alex Foley role.