Lee Daniels says good-bye to directing the Richard Pryor biopic

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Just when you thought that long-in-development Richard Pryor might finally be on the path to getting made, another snag has come up throwing it off-track once more. 

Director Lee Daniels, who appeared to finally be the filmmaker able to wrangle this film to the big screen for The Weinstein Company, has departed the project, with his busy schedule serving as the scapegoat for his exit from the film. With his duties as executive producer on EMPIRE and his work on the series STAR for Fox requiring a great deal of his time, The Weinstein Company elected not to wait for Daniels' calendar to be any freer, and both sides went their own separate ways. 

Initially the film was set to start shooting in March. However, production was pushed back to October, in order to accomodate Daniels' busy schedule. With Daniels asking to delay again, the studio denied such a request, dead set on keeping their current timeline intact. As a result, Daniels is out, and someone else will be in, with TWC already reaching out to a few candidates to take over the picture. 

Mike Epps had been cast as Pryor, with Kate Hudson playing his widow Jennifer Lee Pryor and Oprah Winfrey attached as his grandmother, so we'll have to see if they all sit tight with whoever is tapped to direct now… or if there are more changes in the works to the film.