News > Gravy to Play Biggie in Notorious

Written by David Morgan

The long search is over. Jamal "Gravy" Woolard will play Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G. in Notorious, a biopic on the, uh, infamous rapper.

According to Variety, the story will follow Biggie "from his beginnings as a Brooklyn crack dealer to his rise to the top of the world of hip-hop." Though he only lived to the age of 24, there's still going to be a lot of ground to cover in that two hour movie. Angela Bassett will play Voletta Wallace, Biggie's mother. Derek Luke will play his friend/producer Sean "Diddy" Combs. Anthony Mackie will portray Biggie's hip-hop rival Tupac Shakur. Newcomers Antonique Smith, Naturi Naughton, Dennis White, and Julia Pace Mitchell round out the supporting cast.

George Tillman Jr. will helm Notorious from a screenplay by Cheo Hodari Coker and Reggie Rock Bythewood. Filming is set to start March 24 and take place in all five boroughs of New York. Fox Searchlight also has a date set up for the release: January 16th, 2009. 

What do you think about Gravy's casting? He's never acted before, as far as I know, so that should be an interesting experiment. Is he at least a decent rapper? Opinions are welcome, because I literally know nothing at all about the man they call Gravy.