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| Straight Outta Compton: what can fans expect from the NWA biopic? | Straight Outta Compton: what can fans expect from the NWA biopic? |
| (2 months later) | |
| On Wednesday, Universal announced that Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about gangsta rap pioneers NWA, will finally get a release date after years in development. Ice Cube and Dr Dre, producers of the film and original members of the group, also tweeted out a photo of the cast. Now that there's momentum surrounding the film, there are a lot of questions about what NWA fans and moviegoers can expect. | On Wednesday, Universal announced that Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about gangsta rap pioneers NWA, will finally get a release date after years in development. Ice Cube and Dr Dre, producers of the film and original members of the group, also tweeted out a photo of the cast. Now that there's momentum surrounding the film, there are a lot of questions about what NWA fans and moviegoers can expect. |
| The cast: unknown actors could work | The cast: unknown actors could work |
| Since director F. Gary Gray (Friday, Set It Off, The Italian Job) held an open casting call for the film last April, the roles of Ice Cube, Dr Dre and Eazy-E have been cast, mostly with up and coming actors. O’Shea Jackson Jr, better known as Ice Cube’s son, is slated to play his dad, who left the group in 1989 and went on to have an impressive solo career. Relative unknown Jason Mitchell will play role of Eazy-E. Corey Hawkins, who had a bit part in Iron Man 3, will play rapper-turned-headphone-impresario Dr Dre. (The roles of MC Ren and DJ Yella have not yet been cast.) | Since director F. Gary Gray (Friday, Set It Off, The Italian Job) held an open casting call for the film last April, the roles of Ice Cube, Dr Dre and Eazy-E have been cast, mostly with up and coming actors. O’Shea Jackson Jr, better known as Ice Cube’s son, is slated to play his dad, who left the group in 1989 and went on to have an impressive solo career. Relative unknown Jason Mitchell will play role of Eazy-E. Corey Hawkins, who had a bit part in Iron Man 3, will play rapper-turned-headphone-impresario Dr Dre. (The roles of MC Ren and DJ Yella have not yet been cast.) |
| Finally found the cast for the NWA movie. Me, Gary Gray, Dre w/ | Finally found the cast for the NWA movie. Me, Gary Gray, Dre w/ |
| Cube, Eazy & Dre #StraightOuttaCompton coming 8/14/15 pic.twitter.com/AQZAVSIfxF | Cube, Eazy & Dre #StraightOuttaCompton coming 8/14/15 pic.twitter.com/AQZAVSIfxF |
| Casting unknown actors might work well for a movie about people who have larger than life personalities. Jamal Woolard fit perfectly into his role as Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace in Notorious, the 2009 biopic about Notorious BIG, due largely to the fact that he strongly resembled the rapper without being a well-known rapper himself. | Casting unknown actors might work well for a movie about people who have larger than life personalities. Jamal Woolard fit perfectly into his role as Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace in Notorious, the 2009 biopic about Notorious BIG, due largely to the fact that he strongly resembled the rapper without being a well-known rapper himself. |
| Movies about rap often bring in the kind of big bucks that can launch careers. Notorious grossed $44m, Hustle and Flow brought in $23m, and 8 Mile, based on the life of Dr Dre protege Eminem, grossed close to $243m worldwide. | Movies about rap often bring in the kind of big bucks that can launch careers. Notorious grossed $44m, Hustle and Flow brought in $23m, and 8 Mile, based on the life of Dr Dre protege Eminem, grossed close to $243m worldwide. |
| The story: how far will it go? | The story: how far will it go? |
| The film will undoubtedly focus on the group’s beginnings and meteoric rise, but I wonder if it will tackle some of the tougher issues the group faced. Dee Barnes, host of weekly music series Pump It Up, was brutally attacked by Dr Dre in 1991 at a party in Hollywood. According to Barnes, Dr Dre slammed her head against a brick wall, kicked her, and punched her repeatedly, all of this reportedly because he didn’t like her interview with Ice Cube on why he left NWA in 1990. | The film will undoubtedly focus on the group’s beginnings and meteoric rise, but I wonder if it will tackle some of the tougher issues the group faced. Dee Barnes, host of weekly music series Pump It Up, was brutally attacked by Dr Dre in 1991 at a party in Hollywood. According to Barnes, Dr Dre slammed her head against a brick wall, kicked her, and punched her repeatedly, all of this reportedly because he didn’t like her interview with Ice Cube on why he left NWA in 1990. |
| Members of the group regularly fought with each other, often through their songs and rhymes; when Ice Cube left the group NWA called him Benedict Arnold, and Ice Cube regularly retaliated by pointing out that they were jealous of his success. | Members of the group regularly fought with each other, often through their songs and rhymes; when Ice Cube left the group NWA called him Benedict Arnold, and Ice Cube regularly retaliated by pointing out that they were jealous of his success. |
| Eazy-E dissed members of NWA right up until 1995, when he died of Aids-related pneumonia one month after being diagnosed. His death at 31 years old was shocking not only for how fast it happened and how young he was, but also for drawing attention to the stigmas surrounding Aids in the rap community at that time. The movie will certainly address that he died, but will they discuss the implications his death and how it brought HIV/Aids into sharper focus for the rap/hip-hop community? Each of the members' lives have changed drastically since they started NWA. As multi-million dollar business owners, entrepreneurs, and major movie stars they certainly have more riding on this than just fulfilling a dream by making a film about their controversial start – but can we trust them to tell the full story? We'll find out in August 2015, when the film is released. | |
| • Ice Cube: 'My son could recite Straight Outta Compton at two years old' | • Ice Cube: 'My son could recite Straight Outta Compton at two years old' |