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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 13 June 2017
Despite delays, timing just right for Tupac biopic star

RYAN PEARSON single released after Shakur “As a kid, I was going to her
AP Entertainment Writer was shot to death in Las acting classes, not to act
LOS ANGELES (AP) — De- Vegas in 1996. for myself but to support my
metrius Shipp Jr. never act- Those connections didn’t friend,” he recalled. “And
ed before playing Tupac exactly prepare Shipp to she was my acting coach
Shakur in “All Eyez on Me.” play Shakur in a biopic. all these year later for the
But his connections to the But a four-year delay be- Tupac movie... It feels like
rapper, and to acting, go tween casting and produc- destiny.”
back to his childhood. tion was enough time for Shipp, 28, appears in nearly
Shipp’s uncanny resem- the look-alike to really get every frame of “All Eyez on
blance to Shakur inspired camera-ready. Me,” which tracks Shakur’s
his friends to call him “Pac” “I look at it now as like, even life from his teens to his vi-
in high school. And even through 2011 back then... olent death in 1996, with
before that, Shakur’s music and all of these years, be- nods to his activist upbring-
was part of his life. ing able to see now that I ing by his Black Panther In this June 5, 2017 photo, Demetrius Shipp Jr. poses for a por-
Shipp’s dad is a music pro- wasn’t ready,” Shipp said. parents. trait at the “All Eyez on Me” junket at the Four Seasons Hotel in
Beverly Hills, Calif.
ducer who worked on one “It happened at the exact Producer L.T. Hutton, a for- Associated Press
of Shakur’s songs. perfect time for me, just mer Death Row Records
“My fondest memory of Tu- even with the alignment producer who worked with actors Hollywood was fore his death at age 25.
pac is my father producing of the people that were in- Shakur, said he needed to pushing me to use, people “His mindset was: Get the
‘Toss It Up’ for him when I volved.” cast a lead actor audienc- would have spent the first work done. Time doesn’t
was 7 years old and hear- The delays — prompted es would believe as Tupac, hour of the movie wonder- wait for no man. You need
ing that,” Shipp said. by the departure of two and Shipp was the one. ing, ‘Why is this guy trying to to be working, especially
“He produced that, and potential directors and a “I knew from his back- be Tupac?’” for the things that you want
that was the biggest guy at legal battle with Shakur’s ground and upbringing Shipp said he’s been in- to obtain and accom-
the time. So I was like ‘Wow estate over his life rights — that Demetrius had the spired by the experience, plish,” Shipp said. “If you
this is dope, my pops did allowed Shipp to properly makings of becoming Tu- and by Shakur’s indefati- want it and you want to
this single.’ ...From then on study acting, and he was pac all the way,” Hutton gable work ethic: He re- get it, then you’ve got to
it was like Tupac forever.” unexpectedly reunited with said. corded hundreds of songs work hard for it, like Tupac
“Toss It Up” was the first a teacher from his youth. “If I’d cast any one of the and made six movies be- was working hard for it.”q