Tracy Morgan is getting busy. The former 30 Rock star, who was seriously injured in a devastating car accident last year, made a triumphant return to the spotlight last month hosting Saturday Night Live, and now he’s about to take to the big screen, playing fellow comedy legend Redd Foxx.
The 47-year-old is in negotiations to play the ’70s funnyman in a biopic about the late comedian Richard Pryor, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Mr. Foxx, I hope I do you justice!” Morgan said in a statement. “It will be an honor to portray an icon.”
Foxx, who died in 1991, gave Pryor his start by using him as his opening act. Foxx later went on to star in the hit 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son. Stars including Chris Rock claim to have been influenced by the veteran, and Jamie Foxx, whose real name is Eric Bishop, chose his stage name in tribute to the comedian.
Empire executive producer Lee Daniels is set to direct the biopic, which stars Mike Epps as Pryor, Kate Hudson as Pryor’s wife, and Eddie Murphy and Empire’s Taraji P. Henson as Pryor’s parents. Oprah Winfrey, who starred in Daniels’ The Butler, will play Pryor’s grandmother.
Morgan suffered broken ribs, a broken nose, broken leg, and a traumatic brain injury in a fatal car accident on the New Jersey Turnpike in June 2014.
"People were wondering, 'Can he speak? Does he have 100 percent mental capacity?' But the truth is I never did," he joked in his opening monologue on SNL on Oct. 17. "I might actually be a few points higher now.”
