Eddie Murphy is in talks to star as Marion Barry in a currently untitled biopic that Spike Lee is directing for HBO.

The actor will play Marion Barry, who served as Washington D.C.'s mayor from 1979 to 1991 and again from 1995 to 1999, and is currently a member of the D.C. City Council representing the city's eighth ward. In January 1990, the mayor was caught smoking crack cocaine at the Vista International Hotel in downtown, and was arrested on drug charges, serving six months in prison.

Spike Lee will direct the film from a John Ridley script.

The project is still in development.