Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker Star in Thriller about Notorious B.I.G’s Murder

Depp portrays a real-life LAPD detective who investigated the rap star's unsolved murder.

In the first trailer for the new thriller City of Lies, we see Johnny Depp star as real-life LAPD detective Russell Poole, one of the lead investigators into the 1997 murder of rap artist Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. “Biggie” Smalls). The film is the latest project to examine the Ready to Die rapper’s infamous, drive-by shooting death. The trailer dropped on what would have been the 46th birthday of Christopher Wallace, the legal name of “Biggie.”

In the trailer, you hear Depp’s Poole say of the alleged conspiracy that hindered the investigation into Wallace’s death: “A murder like that only goes unsolved if the police don’t want to solve it.” Forest Whitaker also stars in City of Lies as a reporter desperate to save his reputation and career by looking into why the investigation into Wallace’s death still remains open two decades later.

Poole died in 2015 from a heart attack. Wallace’s death remains unsolved. Biggie’s Life After Death cut “You’re Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)” soundtracks the trailer. The movie is based on Randall Sullivan’s non-fiction book LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records’ Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal. It opens in theaters September 7th. Check out the trailer below.

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