Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Johnny Depp To Star In A Movie About The Biggie And Tupac Murders
Depp with Joe Perry. They're in a supergroup called Hollywood Vampires. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
()
It would be an understatement to say that Johnny Depp has hit a rough patch as of late. This summer, he and ex-wife Amber Heard went through a tumultuous (and very public) divorce that included allegations of abuse on Depp's part.
His troubles have extended beyond his personal life, too. Depp, a surefire money-maker in the past, hasn't notched a victory since 2013's Dark Shadows. Mortdecai was an embarrassment. Black Mass never lived up to its hype. And Alice Through the Looking Glass was torched by the critics.
Now here comes Labyrinth, which shoulders the added stakes of Depp's dimming career. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Depp has signed on to play former LAPD Detective Russell Poole in the movie. Poole had led the investigation in the 1997 shooting death of the Notorious B.I.G. Poole came to believe that producer Suge Knight had coordinated the murder as a response to the death of Tupac Shakur, who some people (like LAPD detective Greg Kading, Poole's eventual successor) claim was killed on the orders of Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, a close associate of Biggie's.
Poole also claimed that Knight was paying off a bunch of LAPD officers to obfuscate the investigation, and that some of them were directly involved in Biggie's murder. Of course, these claims ruffled a lot of feathers at the LAPD.
Support for LAist comes from
Poole went into an early retirement, and his investigation was later documented by author Randall Sullivan in a 2003 publication called LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records' Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal. (Talk about a title that gives away the plot!). The upcoming Labyrinth movie is adapted from the book.
Poole died of a heart attack in 2015.
The intrigue behind Tupac and Biggie's murders is ripe for the big screen. But we're a little concerned that, in Labyrinth, the whole West Coast/East Coast saga will merely serve as a backdrop in a film about a White Male who gets in over his head. Is the story an analogy for Depp's own mid-life crisis? Are Tupac and Biggie stand-ins for Mortdecai and The Lone Ranger? And Depp is on a quest to figure out why they flopped? Will this be The Last Samurai of hip-hop?
Anyway, only time will tell how the movie turns out. Hopefully director Brad Furman (who made The Lincoln Lawyer) will do the material justice and give us some insight into a moment that had defined the mid-90s.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist