Dolemite is My Name and Coming to America 2 actor Eddie Murphy is in talks to play Godfather of Funk George Clinton.
The 80-year-old Parliament-Funkadelic leader is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and winner of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Variety said the film is expected to chronicle Clinton’s childhood in 1940s North Carolina and New Jersey to the height of his fame in the late 1960s as a contemporary of James Brown and Sly Stone to his influence on other musical artists like Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Outkast and the Wu-Tang Clan.
Deadline reported that Murphy, 60, will serve as producer alongside Davis Entertainment’s John Davis, Catherine Davis and John Fox on the Clinton biopic, but they have not finalized a deal yet for the movie.
No writers or studio home for the project have been determined yet. Murphy has a deal with Amazon Prime Video, so it is possible the film could land there.
He will soon co-star with Jonah Hill in director Kenya Barris’ Netflix comedy, You People, and will headline the long-awaited sequel, Beverly Hills Cop 4.
Murphy’s other credits include Saturday Night Live, 48 Hrs, The Nutty Professor, Trading Places, Harlem Nights, Boomerang, Mulan, the Shrek franchise, Dreamgirls and The Haunted Mansion.