We have been reporting on Lee Daniels’ plans to bring the story of Richard Pryor to the big screen for well over a year. In that time, everyone from Marlon Wayans to Nick Cannon were rumored to be playing the title role, but news confirmed by Daniels earlier this week revealed none of the rumors were true.

Mike Epps, comedian and longtime on screen funny man, has officially signed on to portray Richard Pryor in Daniels’ still-untitled new biopic. The news was confirmed by Daniels over Twitter yesterday afternoon, then again by executive producer Oprah Winfrey a few hours later. You can find those announcements below.

It’s unclear when the Richard Pryor biopic will see release, but I don’t think a late 2015 debut in theaters is entirely out of the question. By all accounts the script is complete, and now that a star has been found the rest should begin to fall in line. We’ll bring you more on this project as development moves forward.

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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