Director Allen Hughes, who is responsible for the HBO docuseries ‘The Defiant Ones’ on Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, has closed a deal with the estate of late rap icon Tupac Shakur; giving him full access to Tupac’s released and unreleased material.
Under the new deal, Hughes will direct and executive produce a five-part documentary series on Tupac, which will be the first definitive and comprehensive project on Shakur since his tragic death in 1996 with the full cooperation of his estate.
Hughes spoke about his relationship with Tupac’s estate and how they were hesitant to clear footage featuring Pac for ‘The Defiant Ones’ in a 2018 interview with ‘The Wrap.’ Hughes said, “The Tupac Estate was—and I know them, they’re all old friends—but there was some stuff with him at the gun range that they were precious about.”
He explained, “My original cut is not the way it [eventually aired]. The family and the estate were really sensitive about taking things out of context when it came to weapons in his hands, you know? He was at a shooting range, and it was pretty explosive in the original cut, and they were very, very, very adamant that we not do it that way.”
The docuseries has yet to be titled, and not many details have been released as of current, but it’s coming! Stay tuned.
