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The scripted true crime limited series Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G arrives on the USA Network starting February 27th. With the premiere date quickly approaching, I sat down with the cast and filmmakers behind the series at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to talk about the show. If you’re not aware, Sundance has really amped up their coverage of television and short-form series over the past few years. It’s a smart and necessary movie that has highlighted a number of ambitious shows like Unsolved.
If you haven’t yet heard about Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G., it’s centered on the investigation into the still unsolved murders of Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace, also known as Biggie Smalls or The Notorious B.I.G. The show chronicles the two major police investigations into the separate murders of these prolific rappers and it’s helmed by showrunner Anthony Hemingway, a studied and inventive director who has worked on American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ and The Wire. Greg Kading, a former LAPD detective who worked on both investigations, wrote the bestselling true crime book “Murder Rap” that served as the source material for the show.
While at Sundance, Josh Duhamel (Kading), Jimmi Simpson (Detective Russell Poole), Wavyy Jonez (Wallace), Marcc Rose (Shakur), Kyle Long (creator/writer) and Hemingway visited the Collider Studio. They talked about trying to balance the line between fact and fiction when telling a true story, how they show came about, if they ever talked about doing more or less episodes than 10, if they had any storylines removed due to time constraints, what it was like on set, what Anthony Hemingway brought to the project, and a lot more. In addition, they all played an extended version “Get to Know Your Sundance Attendee” which included questions like the last great movie they saw, the last show they binged, what they collect, drink of choice, what’s their karaoke song, and you can even watch some of them quote lines from some favorite movies.
Check out what Josh Duhamel, Jimmi Simpson, Wavyy Jonez, Marcc Rose, Kyle Long, and Anthony Hemingway had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about followed by the official synopsis.
Finally, a huge thank you to everyone at Kia and The Future Party for helping to make these interviews happen at the Kia Supper Suite and offering up transportation in the all new Kia Stinger high performance Sportback for our guests. We’d also like to thank Altec Lansing, Kunde Wines, Blue Moon Brewing, and Topo Chico for their support.
Josh Duhamel, Jimmi Simpson, Wavyy Jonez, Marcc Rose, Kyle Long, and Anthony Hemingway:
- Anthony talks about how the show came about and what was it about the material that said he had to do it?
- Trying to balance the line between fact and fiction when telling a true story.
- They each talk about working on the show, what it’s about and telling the story over 10 episodes.
- What was it like for people watching the actors playing Tupac and Biggie when they were in scenes together?
- Did they ever talk about doing 8 or 13 episodes instead of 10? The show covers 20 years.
- Did they have any storylines they removed due to time constraints?
- The actors talk about how they like to work on set and what was it like working with Anthony Hemingway?
- Who ruined the most takes and why?
- They all play get to know your Sundance attendee which includes questions like the last great movie they saw, the last show they binged, what they collect, drink of choice, what’s their karaoke song, and you can even watch some of them quote lines from some favorite movies.
Here’s the official synopsis for Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.:
From Universal Cable Productions (UCP), Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. is a scripted true crime serial that chronicles the two major police investigations by LAPD Detective Greg Kading (Josh Duhamel) into the murders of Tupac Shakur (Marcc Rose) and Biggie Smalls (Wavyy Jonez).
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Emmy Winner Anthony Hemingway (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story) directed the pilot and will executive produce the series, along with Mark Taylor through their Hemingway | Taylor production company. Kyle Long (Suits) wrote the pilot and will also executive produce. Kading, who will also serve as co-executive producer, led multiple law-enforcement task forces investigating the murders and authored the book Murder Rap: The Untold Story of Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations.
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The series also stars Jimmi Simpson (Westworld) as Detective Russell Poole, Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo) as Officer Daryn Dupree, Jamie McShane (Bloodline) as Det. Fred Miller, Brent Sexton (The Killing) as Det. Brian Tyndall, Luke James (Black Nativity) as Sean “Puffy” Combs, Aisha Hinds (Underground) as Biggie Smalls’s mother Voletta Wallace, and Letoya Luckett (Rosewood) as Suge Knight’s estranged wife Sharitha Golden.