Weeks after making his long-awaited comeback on Saturday Night Live, Tracy Morgan has been cast for a huge role in the upcoming Richard Pryor biopic.
Morgan has signed on to play comedian Redd Foxx in Lee Daniels‘ biopic of Richard Pryor according to a report that appeared in TheWrap. The role will be his first appearance in a film since appearing in Chris Rock’s Top Five last year.
Agreeing to join the film continues a major comeback for Morgan, who was seriously injured in an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike in June 2014 when a Walmart truck struck a limo carrying the comedian and several others.
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Morgan is rebuilding his filmography, following up his winning SNL appearance with a supporting role in New Line’s comedy Fist Fight alongside Ice Cube and Charlie Day.
Mike Epps will star as Pryor while Kate Hudson will play his wife, Jennifer Pryor. Eddie Murphy and Taraji P. Henson will co-star as Pryor’s parents though Oprah Winfrey will play the woman who raised him — his grandmother.
In the film, Foxx will be depicted as a brash comedian who owned a local comedy club and encouraged Pryor to open up in his act and embrace his culture. Foxx went on to star on the beloved 1970s TV sitcom Sanford and Son, and he worked with both Pryor and Murphy on the 1989 crime comedy Harlem Nights.