Kanye West Biopic Movie Script Making Rounds in Hollywood

A biopic about rapper Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – was one of the most popular screenplays of 2021. The annual Black List was published this month, showcasing the scripts that movie executives read and enjoyed but have not been developed into full-on movies yet. Fans may consider it bittersweet that a script about Ye’s life is here rather than on the big screen.

The Black List is a survey of the “most-liked unproduced screenplays” published every year since 2005. This year’s list took into account over 375 industry professionals, requiring that a submission get at least 7 mentions to make the final list. One of the titles on this year’s list is The College Dropout by Thomas Aguilar and Michael Ballin, which received 13 mentions. According to the description, the movie would be about “a young Kanye West‘s intimate journey to create his seminal first album that reinvented hip hop music.”

The movie has an agency, a management company and a studio attached – Columbia Pictures – but that’s no guarantee that we will ever see it on screen. Some Black List movies ultimately get made, but many others toil in obscurity on the list. There has been no hint that this film is headed for the next step in the development process.

Ye has pondered the possibility of a biopic before and has even selected his personal choice for who should play him. In an interview with The Guardian last year, comedian Danny McBride said: “Kanye asked me to play him in a movie of his life. That was a pretty stunning phone call to get. I don’t know why he wanted me to do it. Maybe that sense of ego I’m able to portray? I have no clue.”

McBride had told the story the previous year on Jimmy Kimmel Live, leaving some doubt about when Ye had made this request of him. He gave more details to Kimmel, saying that Ye flew out to his house and spent a day with him trying to convince him to take the job. He said: “He had an idea for a project that I think is a pretty brilliant idea. He wanted to do a movie about the story of his life, and he wanted me to play him.”

“I thought it was a cool enough idea that I was like ‘Yeah, I’d love to hang out and talk about it,’” McBride laughed. “So he came down, we hung out. We went out in a boat. We just talked. He was awesome; it was the most incredible afternoon,” he went on. “That was a pretty incredible day. Maybe someday we’ll make the film. Who knows?”