Known for his affinity for wigs, heavy makeup, and extravagant costumes, Johnny Depp is making a rare move by going a bit more subtle for his next movie role. The actor has been cast as Russell Poole, the L.A. detective who invested the unsolved assassinations of rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, in a new movie called Labyrinth.

Screen Daily was the first to report the news. In the 2002 documentary Biggie & Tupac from Nick Broomfield, Poole said he believed Suge Knight (the nefarious Death Row Records mogul portrayed in the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton) staged the shooting of Shakur to get out of paying millions to the rapper for royalties. Poole also theorized later on that Knight worked with an LAPD officer named David Mack to kill Smalls in retaliation for Shakur’s murder.

Journalist Randall Sullivan penned a book called "LAbyrinth," on which the film is based, following Poole’s investigation of a cop-on-cop shooting. Poole found evidence linking the killed officer to Death Row Records, leading him to uncover more cops allied with Knight and the label. He passed away in August of last year due to a heart attack.

Image via Grove Press[/caption]