Eddie Murphy To Play Godfather Of Funk George Clinton In Biopic

Eddie Murphy is making plans to play Parliament-Funkadelic leader George Clinton in an upcoming biopic.

According to Deadline, Murphy has a three-picture deal with Amazon following his success with Coming 2 America. He says that the George Clinton biopic is a passion project for him.

George Clinton, who has adopted the name Godfather of Funk, was considered to be one of the innovators of Funk music.

Clinton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, alongside 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. In 2019, he and those members were given their Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards. The group put out hits like “Flashlight,” and Clinton later cut the legendary song, “Atomic Dog.”

The film will tell the story of the iconic musician’s humble beginnings in North Carolina in the 1940s to the formation of his groundbreaking bands Parliament and Funkadelic and ultimately to becoming a major influence on artists of the hip-hop generation including Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Outkast and Wu-Tang Clan, among many others.

Murphy is scheduled to work on other production as well. He’ll be filming Netflix comedy You People, in which he co-stars with Jonah Hill. That will be followed with Beverly Hills Cop 4 this summer, as he reprises his Alex Foley role. Murphy also mentioned going back to standup comedy once all these films are done.

The George Clinton biopic is still in the pre-production phase so a release date isn’t available yet.