​Johnny Depp Investigates Death Of Biggie Smalls In New Film

Johnny Depp will be returning to screens in City of Lies, a new movie exploring the death of rapper Biggie Smalls.

Based on the book LAbyrinth by Randall Sullivan, the new film delves into the murder investigations of 2Pac (Tupac Shakur) and the Notorious BIG (Christopher Wallace), who died in 1996 and 1997, respectively.

Depp stars as retired LAPD detective Russell Poole, who was involved in investigating the death of Wallace.

Poole was later drawn back into the story by a journalist called Jackson (played by Forest Whitaker), who enlisted the detective's help in an attempt to get to the bottom of what happened, some 20 years later.

The first trailer for the film dropped back in 2018, but the project appeared to slip off the radar for a few years.

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According to CinemaBlend, there were a number of reasons behind the movie's delay, including 'business and personal matters' - such a lawsuit involving Depp, following an alleged act of violence on set.

The Daily Beast claimed in 2018 that things 'never escalated beyond a verbal confrontation and that no punches were ever thrown', with LAbyrinth author Sullivan saying he believed Depp had been used as a 'scapegoat'.

Instead, the outlet claimed, the film's delay may have been down to darker reasons, with speculation that it may have been to protect the Los Angeles Police Department - which is accused in the movie of being complicit in Wallace's murder.

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Along with reports of threats made to director Brad Furman, Sullivan also told The Daily Beast: "The Los Angeles Police Department is the most politicised police department in the country, and its relationships with financial powers and political powers in the city, and in the state, and even in the country are, I think, unprecedented.

"I saw the way they were able to marshal resources to oppose making this movie.

"There may have been other things, I don't think it was based mainly or entirely on political pressure, but [the studio was] clearly scared by the things they were getting told, they were getting scared off this project."

Fast forward to 2021, and we now have a brand new trailer for the revived film.

We even have a release date, with the movie due to open in US cinemas on 19 March, before being rolled out via on-demand services from 9 April.

Topics: johnny depp, Entertainment, TV and Film, 2Pac, Tupac Shakur

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman