Tituss Burgess and Wesley Snipes Join Eddie Murphy for Netflix's DOLEMITE IS MY NAME!

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Wesley Snipes and Tituss Burgess have joined Eddie Murphy for upcoming Netflix film about the life and work of Rudy Ray Moore,

The film revolves around the life of Rudy Ray Moore, best known for financing and starring in Dolemite, which appeared in 1975 and has been described as "one of the great blaxploitation movies" of the 1970s. The character was "the ultimate ghetto hero: a bad dude, profane, skilled at kung-fu, DRESSED TO KILL and hell-bent on protecting the community from evil menaces. He was a pimp with a kung-fu-fighting clique of prostitutes and he was known for his sexual prowess." The film was successful and was followed by The Human Tornado, The Monkey Hustle, and Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son-in-Law. Moore continued to release albums that appealed to his enduring fanbase through the 1970s and 1980s, but little of his work reached the mainstream white audience. His "rapid-fire rhyming salaciousness exceeded the wildest excesses" of Foxx and Pryor, and his highly explicit style kept him off television and major films.

Netflix will launch the movie in 2019. Michael Beugg is exec producing. Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winner Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, whose credits range from Ed Wood toAmerican Crime Story: The People vs O.J. Simpson, wrote the script.

Burgess made his Broadway debut in the musical Good Vibrations as Eddie in 2005, and then appeared in Jersey Boys in 2005 as Hal Miller. He originated the role of "Sebastian the Crab" in the musical The Little Mermaid in 2007 and went on to the role of Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the revival of Guys and Dolls in 2009. He has also performed in several regional theater productions, including The Wiz and Jesus Christ Superstar. On television Tituss is known for his appearances in 30 Rock, and for his portrayal as Titus Andromedon on Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

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Photo Credit: Walter McBride

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