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— by Larry Carroll
A poet, a prophet, a leader and a thug — words Tupac Amaru Shakur might have used to describe himself before being murdered in 1996. In death, he has mostly been remembered with one word that doesn't say nearly enough: entertainer. Now, thanks to an Oscar nomination for Tupac's moving message from the grave, "Tupac Resurrection," he may well be remembered as all five.
Over the years, plenty of powerful documentaries have shaped the way we recall musical artists. We remember Bob Dylan changing the world in "Don't Look Back," the Stones staring down the '70s with "Gimme Shelter," Talking Heads' self-deconstruction in "Stop Making Sense" and U2 ascending to the level of superstars with "Rattle and Hum." All these documentaries were critically acclaimed, embraced by fans, and are still respected decades later. They also have something else in common: not one was nominated for an Academy Award.
We are partial, of course ("Tupac: Resurrection" is a production of MTV Films) but when this year's Oscar nominations were announced, the presence of "Resurrection" in the Best Documentary category stood out. Here was a cutting-edge film, with a manufactured narrative delivered by one of the most polarizing personalities of the last decade — a dead legend, portrayed warts and all.
"I really wanted to tell Tupac's story in his own words, from his own voice in his own words," Lauren Lazin, the film's director and co-producer, said. "It was clear in the years after Tupac's death that he really was an extraordinary artist — even more so than we had imagined during the time that he lived."
In the years after Tupac's death, Lazin noticed the rapper's legacy was evolving into one of merely a performer, and not necessarily the outspoken voice of the streets that Tupac viewed himself as. "I was educated during the making of this film. Just listening to his interviews and spending time with him in terms of screening the tapes and listening to the interviews, he taught me a lot," Lazin said. "He taught me about race relations in this country, about the life of a young black male. And I knew that if I could grow during the course of making this film, there was a lot for others to learn as well."
So Lazin, along with a production team that included the rapper's mother, hatched a groundbreaking concept: splicing together old interviews to empower a deceased narrator to voice his own autobiography. "Afeni [Shakur] very much wanted to do the same thing. That was our starting point. We both felt very strongly that nobody could tell Tupac's story as well as Tupac could," Lazin recalled. "It was a bit of a risk: Could this man really narrate his own autobiography, and could you stay with him for over an hour and a half? It was a gamble, we took a risk, and I think it worked. He never gave a bad interview. He always had something to say and took it seriously."
Those who have seen the documentary can attest to the unsettling feeling of listening to a dead man speak in the present tense. As Lazin and Afeni Shakur combed through a seemingly endless supply of tapes, photographs and mementos, however, they got the feeling that Tupac wanted this film to be made. "He did have somewhat of a prophecy of a young death, and he left behind a trail that was easy to follow. He left us lists of music to use in this film. As we went through his archives we found lists titled 'The soundtrack to my life,' and that's the music we use. The music you hear in the film that he isn't performing is music that was on that list. Nothing is in there by accident."
"I had a really, really great sound editor, Rich Calderon. He edited the movie and edited the audio portion, and Sue Pelino at Sony worked a long time, well over a month, just making the interviews flow," Lazin said of the painstaking process.
Even during the scenes toward the end, when Shakur seems to be commenting on his own murder, the filmmakers didn't have to struggle for material. "We never took fractions to create things; we were always respectful towards the editorial intent of what he had to say. We had to drop out a few hundred 'You know what I'm saying's," Lazin said with a laugh, "but that would be the extent of our editing work."
The result was a documentary unlike anything before it, one whose full power was felt when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. "When we saw it on a big screen with a live audience, within the first five minutes there was a chill in the air. This man was a real artist, he was very charismatic, and he could tell a dramatic story."
Oscar seems to agree, and on Sunday "Resurrection" may give Tupac the thespian an honor that he always hoped to someday achieve. "He was a really great actor who never got to be in a great film, and here's his Oscar shot," Lazin insisted. "A lot of his friends that I talked to when I did the research for the film were happy that he'd have that. The hip-hop community has warmly embraced the film. When we got the nomination, I know that hip-hop stations across the country were playing his music and celebrating that one of their own had made it into the most mainstream, popular acceptance you can get.
"Oh, I wish Tupac could be there to accept it," she said, speculating about his acceptance speech. "I would love to see him receive an Oscar, because you know he'd be really charming and really charismatic. I'm not counting on us winning, I haven't written a speech yet, and I don't want to get into that mindset that it's about winning and losing. I just feel like the whole ride of being there is really exciting for everyone involved. There are a lot of people who worked on this movie and worked really, really hard. I'm going to try to just enjoy it and enjoy Tupac's moment in the spotlight."
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