Johnny Depp to star in new adaptation of Labyrinth

Depp will play LAPD gumshoe Russell Poole, who was still working on the (in his eyes) unsolved deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. 20-ish years on from their killings. He worked away trying to solve the mystery murders - which he was certain involved Death Row Records' infamous Suge Knight - until his death in 2015.

Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) is directing the flick, which is currently being shopped about at the Toronto International Film Festival. Christian Contreras is writing the screenplay.

A blurb on the production company's website reads:

Mid-'90s Los Angeles is a cesspit of crime, poverty, and racism. It’s also home to one of modern history’s most infamous unsolved murders: the drive-by shooting of The Notorious B.I.G. which came just months after the gangland execution of his great rival Tupac Shakur.

The LAPD – tasked to bring this crumbling city to order – can only add fire to the flames as corruption eats at its core. Black cops die at the hands of their white colleagues, LA’s finest are implicated in robberies and drug deals, and dubious officers moonlight for infamous gangsta rap label Death Row Records.

The chiefs will do anything to avoid negative publicity, even if it means turning a blind eye to the truth.

Two decades on from the murder, JACKSON, a less than scrupulous journalist whose entire career is based around one award-winning and flawed investigation into the shooting, and POOLE, a disgraced former cop who just can’t let the case drop, come together as reluctant partners to navigate the web of corruption once more.

LABYRINTH is the compelling story of two broken men and their mutual hunt for the truth. As the pair delve deeper into the mire of scandal and deception, this powder-keg tale systematically unravels the reputation of the city’s law enforcement, politics and justice system, while introducing us to a new kind of hero.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]