Wayans To Star In Pryor Biopic

A string of Hollywood heavyweights are lining up behind the project, which will be directed by Dreamgirls' Bill Condon and produced by Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Pryor's widow Jennifer.

Condon is currently in negotiations with Columbia Pictures and Sandler's Happy Madison company and hopes production on Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said? can begin next spring (10) with a budget of $20 million (£13 million), according to Daily Variety.

If the deal is done, it will conclude a long battle for Condon, whose plans to cast Eddie Murphy in the lead role collapsed when a number of studios rejected the stars' pay demands.

Pryor died in 2005 from a cardiac arrest at the age of 65.