Bernie Mac Biopic Being Developed by John Legend’s Production Company

Another biopic is being developed that may draw the interest of the Black community.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, songwriter and entrepreneur John Legend’s production company will produce a biopic on one of the “original kings of comedy,” Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, also known as Bernie Mac.

The project will be done in partnership with Legend’s production company, Get Lifted, and the Bernie Mac estate. The news was revealed at a panel discussion at the 2021 Tribeca Festival by Legend’s production partner in Get Lifted– Mike Jackson.

“We just partnered with Bernie Mac’s estate to cover Bernie Mac’s story,” Jackson told the audience. Apparently, the announcement caught Legend off guard. Jackson said the info was “something that John doesn’t know about yet” and that he was “very excited about” the deal, which “just happened today.”

“Look at you breaking news over here,” Legend responded.

Legend and Jackson went on to reflect on Bernie Mac’s legacy, including The Bernie Mac Show, “It was beautifully done,” Legend said of the sitcom, which ran from 2001 to 2006. “His humor was always edgy, but it always had so much heart to it at the same time. You could tell he was a family man. You could tell that he loved the people he was talking about.”

According to theGrio, Get Lifted was launched back in 2012 by Legend, Jackson, and Ty Stiklorius. The newly formed company had produced the TV series Underground for WGN, and they also produced the Academy Award-winning La La Land. It also produced a 2017 revival of August Wilson’s Jitney, which received a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Bernie Mac, whose career launched into high gear as one of four “Original Kings of Comedy,” died in August 2008 at the age of 50 in a Chicago-area hospital from complications of pneumonia.