Fox Searchlight says it has secured the rights to a film about slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. that is to be produced by the artist’s mother and his former managers.

The studio is in negotiations with Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) to direct the biopic. Cheo Hodari Coker, who wrote the biography “Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G.,” has been tapped to write the script, Fox Searchlight announced Tuesday.

The studio’s president, Peter Rice, called B.I.G.’s life “a unique human story.”

The rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was also known to fans as Biggie Smalls. He was gunned down March 9, 1997, after a music-industry party in Los Angeles. The case remains unsolved.

Pitt accepts $250,000 for Film Foundation Inc.

Brad Pitt, diagnosed with a mild case of viral meningitis and released from the hospital last week, accepted a $250,000 check on behalf of the Film Foundation Inc. at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Pitt, wearing a white jacket and shirt, pretended to pocket the check after the presentation. The association’s annual installation luncheon honoring its 2005-2006 officers was Wednesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The actor was in Ethiopia recently with his “Mr. &Mrs. Smith” co-star, Angelina Jolie, to pick up the actress’s newly adopted baby girl, Zahara. Pitt’s publicist has declined to say whether he contracted the illness while in Africa.

Associated Press