30 Rock star Tracy Morgan has opened negotiations to join Lee Daniels’ Richard Pryor biopic, where he’ll be assuming the role of comedy icon Redd Foxx, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In what would be his first major role since the serious accident last year, Morgan is in line to play the brash yet loveable comedian, who opened the industry door for Pryor by recruiting him to be his opening act at a small-time comedy gig, before going to become a fixture of hit NBC comedy Sanford and Son between 1972 to 1977. Currently titled Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?, the biopic will chart his rise to becoming one of the very best stand-up acts of his generation, and the newcomer couldn’t be more excited to join the project as Foxx.
“Mr. Foxx, I hope I do you justice!” said Morgan in a statement. “It will be an honor to portray an icon.”
In light of today’s casting scoop, Morgan will join Mike Epps and Kate Hudson in the real-life drama, who are on board to portray Richard Pryor and his wife Jennifer Pryor, respectively – Jennifer, now a widow, will produce the feature. Beyond that, there’s also roles for Taraji P. Henson and Eddie Murphy as Pryor’s parents, while Oprah Winfrey is attached for the role of the grandmother, Marie Carter. Pryor passed away on December 10, 2005 at the age of 65.
Meanwhile, a key role in Lee Daniel’s Richard Pryor film is just one of a number of projects currently filling up Tracy Morgan’s reinvigorated slate, as the actor is currently filming Fist Fight along with Ice Cube and Charlie Day.
