‘A lovely bisexual time’: Fans hope upcoming Richard Pryor biopic series depicts his queerness
Richard Pryor appears in the 1983 film Richard Pryor: Here and Now (Image: Getty Images/Bettmann/ Contributor)
Fans are hoping that an upcoming biopic series about the late comedian Richard Pryor doesn’t omit his queerness.
Plans were announced for the project in 2020 by creator Kenya Barris, who confirmed that he would be bringing Pryor’s story to the screen. Now, he’s revealed that it’ll be released in 10 parts that take a look at his beginnings to the moment he became “the biggest star in the world.”
“It’s a 10-part limited biographical series that takes a look from cradle to grave,” Barris told Variety at Sundance. “From his earliest upbringing – he grew up in a ho house, or a house of ill repute — and became, at one point, the biggest star in the world.”
Barris also confirmed that the project would reveal the things that people “didn’t know about him” – but didn’t explicitly reference his queerness.
“A super flawed guy, but who everything, to this day, the comedy that we remember — even including [Dave] Chappelle — is derivative of what he started,” Barris added.
“That honest, reflecting, observational look at what the world is and the differences between us that actually make us more similar than we are apart. I think telling his story and letting people see things that they didn’t know about him is something that I’m super excited to bring to life.”
However, fans were quick to hope that production didn’t erase Pryor’s sexuality.
“Make sure you put that gay shit in there too,” one wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Hopefully a lovely bisexual time,” another wrote, whilst others referenced Pryor’s alleged affair with actor Marlon Brando, who starred in an array of huge blockbusters including The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and A Streetcar Named Desire.
“Who’s playing Marlon Brando?”, one fan joked, whilst another wrote: “Yeah, just make sure they put in that Marlon Brando era.”
In 2018, producer Quincy Jones, who worked with Michael Jackson on “Off The Wall,” “Thriller,” and “Bad,” remarked in an interview that Pryor had allegedly slept with Brando. Later on in 2018, his widow Jennifer Lee Pryor further confirmed this interaction, noting that he openly wrote about his bisexuality in his autobiography, Pryor Convictions.
“It was the ’70s,” she told TMZ. “Drugs were still good, especially quaaludes. If you did enough cocaine, you’d f*** a radiator and send it flowers in the morning.”
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