apr 10, 2021 - CITY OF LIES COLLIDER Brad Furman INTERVIEW

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Director Brad Furman Goes Deep on ‘City of Lies’ and the Murder of Christopher Wallace in 45-Minute Interview

By Steven Weintraub

With City of Lies now playing in select theaters and available on Digital and On Demand, I recently conducted an extended interview with director Brad Furman about the making of the film. Based on the book LAbyrinth, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Randall Sullivan, City of Lies attempts to pull the curtain back on the murder of iconic rap artist Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G.

In the film, Johnny Depp plays Russell Poole, the determined former LAPD detective who spent nearly 20 years trying to solve the murder, while Oscar winner Forest Whitaker co-stars as Jack Jackson, a journalist who teams up with Poole in search of the elusive truth. Together they explore why the case remains cold -- and why a secret division of the LAPD is seemingly set on keeping it that way. The film also stars Shea Whigham, Toby Huss, Kevin Chapman, Peter Greene, Xander Berkeley, Shamier Anderson, Neil Brown Jr., Cory Hardrict, Rockmond Dunbar, Michael Paré, Jamal Woolard, and Laurence Mason.

During the interview, Furman talks about the long process of getting the film released, why he thinks the killings of Wallace and Tupac Shakur were our generation's JFK, how he convinced Depp to be in the film and not wear any prosthetics, why he thinks Suge Knight didn’t call for a hit on Tupac, how the LAPD still won’t talk about how they had officers working at Death Row Records, why he he ended up cutting a number of scenes with Whitaker, and so much more. If you’re interested in the making of City of Lies and the killing of Wallace, you’ll learn a lot during this interview.

*What TV series would he like to guest direct?
*What movie or movies has he seen the most?
*Did they ever discuss a sequel to The Lincoln Lawyer and what happened?
*Who does he think killed Tupac Shakur?
*Why he thinks Suge Knight didn’t call for a hit on Tupac.
*How the killing of Christopher Wallace and Tupac Shakur was the biggest story at the time.
*Why he thinks the killings of Wallace and Shakur were like our JFK.
*How did he get involved in City of Lies?
*What surprised him during the research process prepping for the film?
*How did he get Christopher Wallace’s mother in the film?

*How did he get Johnny Depp to be in the film and not wear prosthetics? Talks about his nine-hour first meeting.

*What did he learn about Russell Poole?
*What was it been like waiting for it to come out?
*The messages and theme in the film and how relevant it is to today.
*How the LAPD still won’t talk about how they had officers working at Death Row Records in their off hours.
*Balancing the line between fact and fiction and where he was willing to embellish.
*Did he have a longer cut of the film?
*What was the last stuff he cut out of the film before locking his cut?
*Why he ended up cutting scenes with Forest Whitaker.
*Did he change the beginning of the film?
*What has he been working on?
*How he’s working on a Pistol Pete film that he will write and direct.

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