After ending 2010 with the announcement that he would directing the highly-anticipated Tupac Shakur biopic and also handling a high-profile ad campaign for Converse, Antoine Fuqua was tapped to direct the new film Southpaw which stars Eminem. The production has run into some obstacles, but is still set to take place.

In March, Fuqua signed on to direct a film featuring a romantic love story between Yang Guifei, an imperial concubine, and the Tang dynasty emperor, Xuanzong. The as-of-yet-untitled film is slated for release in 2012. The director is also still slated to begin production on a Pablo Escobar biopic in the near future.

"I prepare and prepare and then prepare again. I spend a lot of time talking with [actors] about everything," Fuqua says. "I mean deep. The spiritual layer, psychological layer. Everything. You have to with guys like that. They have to know you’re in control. If they don’t believe how do you get the best out of that sort of talent?"