Spike Lee To Direct Eddie Murphy As Marion BarryPosted by Wilson Morales
December 9, 2011
The Washington Post is reporting that Spike Lee will be directing a biopic on Marion Barry, with Eddie Murphy playing the former mayor.
With John Ridley attached as the screenwriter, the project is being developed by HBO.
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.”
Barry was the D.C. mayor from 1979 to 1991 and again from 1995 to 1999, and is currently a member of the D.C. City Council representing the city’s eighth ward. In January 1990, Barry was caught smoking crack cocaine at the Vista International Hotel in downtown and was arrested on drug charges, serving six months in prison.
The Post also mentions that this the second attempt that HBO is making with the Marion Barry film. Back in 2002, they had Jamie Foxx slated to play Barry from a script written by Chris Rock, but it was never went into production.
Spike Lee and John Ridley are already working with the cable network on the drama series, ‘Da Brick,’ starring ‘Attack the Block’ star John Boyega. That project is being described as a contemporary exploration of what it means to be a young, black man in supposedly post-racial America and is loosely inspired by aspects of Mike Tyson’s youth.
Murphy recently decided not to host the upcoming Academy Awards and can be seen in theaters opposite Ben Stiller in the comedy heist film, ‘Tower Heist.’
