Exclusive: After blowing away everybody with his audition, actor-comic Mike Epps has emerged as the front-runner to star as Richard Pryor in the biopic that Lee Daniels will direct at The Weinstein Company. Daniels has been in TWC headquarters working with and auditioning a group of young actors that has included Epps, Michael B. Jordan, Marlon Wayans, and Nick Cannon, with Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway the names I’ve heard to play Pryor’s widow, Jennifer Lee Pryor. I can only imagine what it must mean to several of these guys to get the role and play the stand-up comedian they grew up revering before they themselves succeeded onstage. It’s especially poignant for Epps and Wayans, because each one was signed to play Pryor in prior incarnations of the movie that fell apart.
Wayans had the job in the last version of the comic legend’s story when...
Wayans had the job in the last version of the comic legend’s story when...
- 8/11/2014
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline
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