Johnny Depp joins Notorious B.I.G., Tupac crime drama 'Labyrinth'

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Johnny Depp has signed on to star in upcoming hip-hop crime drama Labyrinth about the investigation into the death of Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Depp will portray real life LAPD detective Russell Poole who investigated the murders of the famous rappers which remain unsolved to this day.

Directed by Lincoln Lawyer helmer Brad Furman, the film is an adaptation of the Randall Sullivan book, Labyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records' Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal.

Poole is noted by Rolling Stone to have investigated the death of Notorious B.I.G., real name Christopher Wallace, for nearly a year before pushing a theory that Death Row Records head Suge Knight orchestrated his death as retaliation for the death of Tupac a year earlier.

The two hip-hop legends were feuding at the time on different sides of the industry's West Coast vs. East Coast period. Both murders have been seen as connected.

Poole retired in 1999 after implicating a fellow officer in Notorious B.I.G's death and later sued the LAPD because he couldn't take his findings public. He appeared in the 2002 documentary Biggie & Tupac and died in 2015 after suffering from a heart attack.

Labyrinth is currently being pitched to studios at the Venice Film Festival with no one outside Depp attached to star.