When rumors recently swirled that Nickelodeon actor Nick Cannon might be playing legendary comedian Richard Pryor in a Lee Daniels biopic, Pryor’s family, like the rest of the country, breathed a collective gasp of “oh f*ck that.” But now, just days later, it seems Richard Pryor’s son, Richard Pryor Jr., is suddenly cool with the idea. What the hell, man? I thought we were a united front on this.
Pryor Jr. tells us of Cannon, who has not yet landed the part, but is in talks, “I am actually very excited about it now. He changed my mind by how he is delving into it…He did the small thing of using his left hand instead of his right hand, he picked up smoking to try and emulate my dad, he’s let his hair grow out…he’s looking into who my dad really was, looking into his childhood, who he was raised by and around, and he is interested in talking to me about who my dad was.”
Let this be a lesson to all the kids out there, smoking really does make you cooler and more likeable. “Look at that dashing man over there, I’d be happy if he played my father,” I always say when I see someone smoking.
Pryor Jr. has not seen the script and tells us he’s concerned about how it will treat his dad and Jennifer, who was also Pryor’s manager.
“I’m concerned about my dad in the later years, if he will be portrayed in the proper way when you have a person like Jennifer over things. She is going to portray herself as angelic when it was the opposite,” Pryor Jr. tells us. “She’s not a nice lady…My dad’s money took care of him; they didn’t even live in the same home.” [PageSix]
First you’re concerned about Nick Cannon, next you’re concerned about Jennifer Pryor – what you should really be concerned about is Lee Daniels directing. When I think “tasteful biopic,” the opening credits in ‘Precious’ and Nicole Kidman peeing on Zac Efron aren’t the first things that spring to mind.