Johnny Depp to Play Investigator Russell Poole in Labyrinth

Screen Daily broke the news first; on September 7, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter and subsequently Billboard, Vibe, AllHipHop, and The Source followed: Johnny Depp is set to play Los Angeles police officer Russell Poole in the thriller Labyrinth. Poole had investigated the murders of Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac. Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) directs; production is handled by Good Films, the company behind the drama The Infiltrator.

Poole Suspected Officers from His Own Ranks

Christian Contreras wrote the screenplay based on the book Labyrinth by Randall Sullivan. According to Vibe, Poole believed “gangsta cops” from his own task force were involved in Biggie’s death, whom he linked to Death Row and Suge Knight. That is Poole’s theory, not proven. Poole died in August 2015.

The film was released in 2018 as City of Lies, see Trailer with Johnny Depp.