All Eyez on Tupac: How Benny Boom directed a movie about a hip-hop icon

Tupac Shakur was one of the most influential and controversial musical artists of his generation, whose significance transcended hip-hop both before and after his 1996 murder. With the first biopic about his life, All Eyez on Me, set to open in theatres this weekend, the film's director Benny Boom says the movie shows its subject's complexity.

The film is structured as a conversation Tupac is having with a journalist while he, Tupac, is serving time in prison. It pays special attention to the relationship between Tupac (played by Demetrius Shipp Jr.) and his mother, activist Afeni Shakur.

Boom talks to Tom Power about casting an actor with an uncanny physical resemblance to Tupac and reflects on Tupac's musical legacy and the challenges of making a film about such an iconic figure.

— Produced by Ty Callender

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