Two key figures from the business side of Snoop Dogg’s early career are getting their own Hollywood portrayals. Universal Pictures’ Snoop Dogg biopic, titled Snoop, has recruited Aaron Paul and Giovanni Ribisi to play men whose work connected the rapper to the music industry’s commercial and legal machinery.
Paul will portray record executive Jimmy Iovine, while Ribisi takes on attorney David Kenner. Their casting adds a business-focused dimension to a film already led by Jonathan Daviss as Snoop Dogg. With an August 2027 release scheduled, the project is gradually assembling an ensemble that reaches beyond the rapper himself.
The Snoop Dogg biopic brings Jimmy Iovine and David Kenner into focus
Aaron Paul’s character has a particularly important connection to Snoop Dogg’s rise. Jimmy Iovine helped bring the rapper’s early recordings to a wider audience through the distribution agreement between Interscope Records and Death Row Records. That relationship placed Iovine within the business network responsible for taking music associated with Death Row into the mainstream.
Paul, a multiple Emmy Award winner best known for Breaking Bad, is therefore playing someone whose influence came from behind the scenes rather than from performing onstage. His involvement also brings another recognizable television star to Universal’s growing cast.
Meanwhile, Giovanni Ribisi will portray David Kenner, a celebrity and criminal defense lawyer who represented Death Row Records during the late 1990s. Kenner’s connection to the label provides a different perspective on its history, one centered on legal representation rather than record distribution.
According to Deadline’s exclusive casting report, both actors have joined the production. However, their confirmed roles should not be mistaken for a complete outline of the screenplay. Universal has not detailed which specific events involving Iovine or Kenner will appear in the finished film.
The Snoop Dogg biopic has its release date and creative team in place
Universal has scheduled Snoop for August 6, 2027. Craig Brewer is directing from his rewrite of the original screenplay by Joe Robert Cole. Furthermore, the rapper is directly involved as a producer, making this a project with participation from its central subject.
For readers keeping track of the production, these are the essential confirmed details.
- Movie title: Snoop.
- Studio: Universal Pictures.
- Release date: August 6, 2027.
- Director: Craig Brewer.
- Screenplay: Craig Brewer’s rewrite of Joe Robert Cole’s original script.
- Lead actor: Jonathan Daviss as Snoop Dogg.
- New cast member: Aaron Paul as Jimmy Iovine.
- New cast member: Giovanni Ribisi as David Kenner.
- Producers: Snoop Dogg, Sara Ramaker, Brian Grazer and Allan Mandelbaum.
- Executive producers: Michael Beugg and Jeb Brody.
- Music: The film will feature selections from Snoop Dogg’s extensive catalog.
The production also represents a notable step for Death Row Pictures. Snoop is the first project under the company’s overall deal with NBCUniversal Entertainment, announced in April 2026. Sara Ramaker, president of Death Row Pictures, produces alongside Snoop Dogg and Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Allan Mandelbaum.
Grazer’s involvement is another interesting connection for a music-centered film, given his producing credit on 8 Mile. Nevertheless, Snoop has its own creative team and subject. The confirmed participation of Death Row Pictures and the use of the rapper’s music catalog are more concrete indicators of the production’s identity than comparisons with earlier music dramas.
Jonathan Daviss leads an ensemble with several familiar names
Jonathan Daviss, an emerging actor, has the central assignment of portraying Snoop Dogg. Around him, Universal has assembled performers from different areas of film and television. Some will play identifiable figures from the music world, while the characters assigned to several others have not been announced.
Beyond Daviss, Paul and Ribisi, the remaining confirmed cast includes:
- Lauren London
- Algee Smith
- Cynthia Erivo
- Camron Jones
- Tre Hale
- Laya DeLeon Hayes
- Olly Sholotan
- Corey Champagne
- Jonica Booth
- SwayvoTwain
- Hercy Miller — Master P.
- Zachariah Rogers — The D.O.C.
- Tyquan Givens — an original character.
Hercy Miller’s casting as Master P and Zachariah Rogers’ role as The D.O.C. establish additional connections to recognizable hip-hop personalities. However, the presence of those characters does not establish the exact years or events the movie will depict.
Cynthia Erivo is another noteworthy addition to the ensemble. She also appears in Karoshi, the 2027 action thriller whose first trailer recently arrived. That gives audiences another upcoming film featuring Erivo to follow while further details about her character in Snoop remain under wraps.
Aaron Paul and Giovanni Ribisi have other major projects ahead
For Aaron Paul, Snoop joins an upcoming slate that includes the third season of Prime Video’s Fallout television series. His participation creates another connection between the actor and a popular entertainment franchise that extends across different media.
The wider Fallout universe has continued attracting attention beyond television. In gaming, Fallout 76 has surpassed 25 million players since launch, illustrating the franchise’s continuing reach. Paul is also attached to Curry Barker’s Anything But Ghosts and Jo Nesbø’s The Night House.
Ribisi, whose film credits include Avatar, can currently be seen in two television projects. He stars opposite Jon Hamm in MGM+’s American Hostage and appears in Prime Video’s The Greatest, a series centered on Muhammad Ali.
Those commitments make both actors particularly recognizable additions, although their popularity is only part of the casting story. Their characters occupy different positions within Death Row Records’ history, giving the production two distinct professional relationships to draw upon.
Ultimately, the Snoop Dogg biopic is shaping up as more than a film built around a famous musician and his songs. The confirmed casting of Jimmy Iovine and David Kenner suggests that the people working around Death Row Records will also have a place in its story. What remains unknown is how much attention the screenplay will give those relationships when Snoop reaches theaters on August 6, 2027.
Creator of the website, Pokemon trainer by nature. Trying to report on everything related to the world of video games, series and movies. Yu-Gi-Oh is my weakness, collecting cards since the dawn of time.
