Eddie Murphy will play George Clinton in an upcoming biopic, according to multiple reports Friday. The comedian will portray the music legend in the Amazon MGM Studios film directed by Bill Condon.
Clinton shared the news on his Instagram, captioning it with the “👀” emoji.
Although not many details have been made available about the currently untitled biopic, Deadline reports that Virgil Williams is writing a script for the film, based on an original draft by Max Werner. The script is set to be based on the funk musician's 2014 memoir, Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard On You?
Rolling Stone described the book as “astounding,” as he shared details about partying with Sly Stone and encountering zombies with Parliament bassist Billy Bass Nelson.
“We ran a roadblock, went about a mile along the road, and came out into a small town where we saw all these fucking creatures walking around, zombies or mummies, hands up in the air and dead looks on their faces,” he wrote in the book. “We were scared out of our fucking minds,” he added, revealing that the had actually stumbled on the set of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead.
The film will reunite Murphy with Condon after the pair worked together in 2006's Dreamgirlsin which Murphy starred with Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, and Beyoncé.
Actress Catherine Davis, a fan of Clinton's, brought the idea to Murphy, per reports. The film will share the life story of the funk pioneer and how he founded musical collective Parliament-Funkadelic.
Davis, Greg Yolen, and Murphy's and John Davis' own production companies will produce the film. Clinton, 83, will executive produce the film alongside Charisse Hewitt-Webster, Archie Ivy, and Jeff Jampol.
Murphy is next set to star in The Pickup with Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson, while Condon is finishing up Kiss of the Spider Womanwhich stars Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna.
