After Jada Pinkett Smith blasted her depiction in Lionsgate’s Tupac Shakur biopic “All Eyez on Me” earlier Friday, one of the film’s producers defended her treatment in the film.
“I’m kind of disappointed and just hurt by the accusations,” L.T. Hutton told TMZ.
Pinkett had called the “reimagining” of her relationship with the slain rap legend “deeply hurtful” in a series of tweets Friday, claiming several of the incidents depicted in the film never happened.
“Forgive me … my relationship to Pac is too precious to me for the scenes in All Eyez On Me to stand as truth,” Pinkett tweeted. “Pac never read me that poem. I didn’t know that poem existed until it was printed in his book … Pac never said goodbye to me before leaving for LA. He had to leave abruptly and it wasn’t to pursue his career.”
In a video interview later Friday with TMZ, Hutton elaborated on his vision for the movie, which was intended to show “who Tupac was, who he wanted to be, and who he had to be to survive the world that he was introduced into.”
Hutton also said despite some artistic license taken, “it all came from the truth.”
“I respect the hell out of Mrs. Smith,” he said.
“All Eyez On Me” was directed by Benny Boom and produced by Lionsgate’s Codeblack Films and Morgan Creek Productions, Demetrius Shipp, Jr. stars as the iconic rapper, with Danai Gurira, Lauren Cohan, Jamie Hector, Jamal Woolard and Dominic L. Santana also featured in the film. Jeremy Haft, Eddie Gonzalez and Steven Bagatourian share the writing credit, with David Robinson, Hutton, and James G. Robinson producing.