Eddie Murphy is set to portray musical legend George Clinton in a new biopic centered around the Parliament-Funk founder’s life story.
According to Deadline, Murphy has been cast in the starring role in the untitled film, which will be directed by Bill Condon for Amazon MGM Studios. Murphy and Condon previously worked together on the Academy Award-winning 2006 film, Dreamgirls, which Murphy appeared in and Condon directed.
The screenplay for the film, which is being written by Virgil Williams, is based on Clinton’s 2014 memoir, Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard On You?.
Murphy’s initial involvement in the film came at the behest of actress and producer Catherine Davis, a devoted George Clinton fan who first approached Murphy about his interest in portraying Clinton onscreen.
The film will mark Murphy’s fourth film project with Amazon MGM, as the New York native previously worked with the studio on the films Candy Cane Lane, Coming 2 America, and The Pickup, the latter in which he’s set to star in opposite Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson.
The George Clinton biopic will be produced by Murphy through Eddie Murphy Productions, Catherine Davis, John Davis via Davis Entertainment, and Greg Yolen. Eddie Murphy Productions’ Charisse Hewitt-Webster, as well as George Clinton, Archie Ivy, and Jeff Jampol will executive produce the project.
Beginning his career as a songwriter for Motown, Clinton and his groups, The Parliaments and Funkadelic, found fame in the ’70s, introducing their P-Funk sub-genre to the world through the albums Mothership Connection, Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome, and One Nation Under a Groove.
In 1997, Clinton, along with fifteen other Parliament-Funkadelic members, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and later received Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards. The 83-year-old also received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this year.
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