Author Topic: Actors on Tupac (Read 288 times)

CRAFTY · « **on:** August 26, 2003, 01:13:15 AM »

For the ones that didn't read it before.
Actors from Gang Related on Pac:
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The last days of Tupac Shakur were very much on the minds of James Belushi and Lela Rochon, co-stars of the slain rapper in his final movie, Gang Related. "There was an eerie feeling on the set" Rochon said "I really didn't think we'd get the movie finished. But that was just my feeling. Tupac was arrogant about it, usually. He said he'd be OK. But he told me, too, that he expected to die young." Shakur, whose death has fed a cult following he died Sept. 13, 1996, after he was shot while riding in a car in Las Vegas. He and Marion "Suge" Knight, the head of Death Row records, were driving from the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavy weight bout to a nightclub when a car pulled beside the black BMW in which they were riding. Shots were fired. Four of them struck Shakur.

Just hours before the fatal shooting, Shakur and his entourage of bodyguards and hangers on were involved in a fight, reportedly with a rival rap group, outside a Las Vegas hotel. It was the second time Shakur had been gunned down in less than two years. In November 1994, he was shot five times when assailants attempted to steal jewelry from him in the lobby of a New York recording studio. He recovered, making a public statement: "They shot me five times, and couldn't kill me." Shakur, who was 25, was a rap superstar who used anger and gunplay (un-true) in his songs and made millions from it. His self-proclaimed "Thug life" which he represented through "gangster" rap, resulted in jail time on an assault charge and repeated violent episodes.

Just a week before the Las Vegas shooting, New York police broke up a confrontation between Shakur and another rapper's entourage at the MTV Video Music Awards. His critics pointed out that his records praised violence and misogyny (un-true). The San Francisco Chronicle, for example, wrote before his death, "Life has given Shakur ample warnings about the need to separate himself from the daring, brutish persona he effects for his rap act. He is a purveyor of the violence-for-excitement mentality that seems determined to consume him." The statement was prophetic.

On the other hand, supporters such as Jesse Jackson claimed that Shakur 's life was about "the violent culture we live in.... the survival of the fittest that too often calls for revenge.

Gang Related, now in theaters, was finished just days before his death. The set, according to the actors, revealed a lighter and more focused Shakur than his public image. Rochon, who was elevated to stardom by Waiting to Exhale, said that "Tupac was a sweetheart.... and so charismatic on camera..... but, in my opinion, he expected a youthful death. I joked with him a great deal. He was a little guy. I said to him, `Tupac , how could your little self rape anybody? Assault anybody? You just don't look the type.' He told me that he didn't. That he never did that." (damn right he didn't)

He was convicted in 1995, though, of a sexual attack (touching somw bitches ass) on a woman (wrongfully convicted). "He said to me, Lela, you're too square. You need to hang out with me. But, frankly I was scared to hang out with him. I saw him only on the set. "What was she scared of? "I was scared of getting shot", she answered flatly. Rochon, who plays a stripper and police informant in the new movie, said that her first reaction upon hearing about the Vegas shooting was, "Where were his bodyguards? He had them around him at all times on the set, so I thought they would have prevented something like this. My next reaction, frankly, was to get mad with him. I immediately thought, What was he doing to get shot?' "

These feelings turned to shock days later when she learned he had died. "It was such a waste. I used to talk to him on the set about his future. I told him that he was in the best position anybody could be in. Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes are stars, but they're getting older. Who else was this photogenic and just 25 years old? I kept telling Tupac that he was in perfect position to take over for Denzel and Wesley. He was just the right age. I don't think he heard me. You always wonder, when something like this happens, what else you could have said. "Gang Related", contrary to the title, is not a film about gangs. It concerns two crooked cops, buddies Belushi and Shakur, who apprehend drug dealers, kill them, take their drugs and then dismiss the murder with the label "gang related". When one of their heists goes awry, things escalate to comic proportions. It has more plot twists than expected.

Belushi is no stranger to sudden, tragic deaths. His brother, comedian actor John Belushi, died of a heroin and cocaine overdose in 1982. James Belushi was in New Zealand doing a TV commercial when he heard of Shakur's death. "I was shocked, but not surprised," he said. "That isn't really logical, but that is the way I felt. He seemed bent in that direction, but yet he was directly on target in the movie. He and I had a great chemistry going". Belushi remembered, though, that there was a fight on the set. "On the first day of rehearsals, Tupac was late. On the second day, he didn't show up at all. On the third day, he was late again. I told him, "Apparently you're not committed to this project. Apparently, you don't take making this movie seriously. If you're late tomorrow, don't bother to show up the next day, because I won't be here".

"We got into a heated argument. He said he was late because he couldn't get a parking space. His bodyguards moved up, but he told them, "This is between Jim and me" He told me that he was, indeed, committed to this film and, later, he proved it. He was there, after that, in every way. Shakur was born in New York City in 1971, just weeks after his mother, Afeni Shakur, was released from jail. She was a Black Panther activist in the 1960s. He attended the High School for the Performing Arts in Baltimore, and it was there that he began performing rap. His album Me Against the World, which sold millions, included such prophetic songs as If I Die 2Nite and Death Around the Corner.

In 1995, he was sentenced to a four-year term for a sexual attack on a 21-year-old woman in a New York hotel. He served 11 months before being released. He later faced other charges for breaking probation, But at one time, he claimed there was a soft side to him. "I'm the kind of guy who is moved by Don McLean's Vincent," he once said. On the other hand, he defiantly claimed, "They can put me in jail for 120 years, but I'll still be richer than all of them." His career included acclaimed roles in Juice, Poetic Justice, Above the Rim and Gridlock'd before his role in Gang Related. There was a suggestion, late in his life, that perhaps the rap persona was an act. In one of his last interviews, with Vibe magazine, he said, "Thug life is dead to me. If it's real, let somebody else represent it, because I am tired of it. I represented thug life too much. "Belushi has a more pleasant memory. "I introduced Tupac to the music of Frank Sinatra on the set while we were filming Gang Related. He was not hip to it, but he went wild. He listened to Frank a lot. He planned to do a rap version of Fly Me to the Moon."
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Actors from Gridloc'd on Pac:
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Tim Roth

He was actually the straight man in the film. The solid guy. My character was all over the place and he was like my dad in the film. He was constantly having to watch my back because I am always getting myself in trouble saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

That as on screen but were those positions in reverse in real life?

A little bit. Yeah.

I first met Pac before he was cast. He wanted to play the part of Spoon and he said to them, if he hasn't seen any of my movies, don't let him see my movies, and if he hasn't listen to my music, then don't let him listen to my music and don't let him see my music videos. Let me meet him as I really am, not as my public person." And he walked in and I met this guy who was twenty five years old and he knew the character. It was a guy who wanted to do a great film. I used to quietly slide into his trailer during the day at some point when no one was around. I would kick back and have a beer and he would be sitting there writing, which was good. Good to see. He worked at it. His success was not a fluke. He was a poet. There as this big tough guy performance that goes on in him and I have never seen anybody so scared in all my life. We were in a back alley shooting the stabbing scene and there were rats running around. And he literally was terrified. He kept jumping up and down shouting, "Did you see that, that was a rat!!" It was like suddenly he was four years old and it made me laugh.

You guys bonded during the filming?

Yeah, the thing about working with any actor if you are working with such depth is you have to bond real quick and you have to keep it there. As much as I may have been pissed off with him everyday and he may have been pissed off with me, we had to reveal a lot about ourselves real quick as if our relationship had gone back years and we did that.

Preston Holmes

"Big smile, he always had a big smile. He loved kids and my daughter was always with me and he had known her since she was a kid. He invited me to the set of his music video which was like a rappers convention, I mean everybody was in it. My daughter and her friend spent all day getting cute in these little outfits and I was not going to let them leave the house dressed like that. They wouldn't listen so finally I gave in. We got to the set and Tupac took one look at them and said, "What are you doing dressed like that. Ya'll had better go home and put some clothes on." And he was serious. It was typical of who he was.

Erica Huggins

I was blown away by Tupac's ability to bring his natural rhythm that's so prevalent in his music to the screen. He was a poet.

Damian Jones

Initially everybody was nervous about Tupac, given his reputation. But he loved this film and by the end, everybody loved him.

Bokeem Woodbine

I really feel that in years to come music and cinema of today will be considered a renaissance era of sorts and I think he was on the forefront of a lot of that. People will look back and say that Tupac was a true renaissance magician.

Jasen Govine

I was nervous because it was my first scene in a movie and it was with Tim Roth and Tupac. After we shot it Tupac came over and said, "That was very funny" and then he smiled. I'll always remember that moment.

Howard Hesseman

Gridlock'd, the title, refers to a situation where there is not enough space and too many people fighting for not enough space. This is what Tupac's death seems to be about.
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Actor from Juice on pac:
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Omar Epps (Juice)

'Pac was just the truth. He always brought it from the heart. Sometimes the truth hurts or the truth can set you free. In his case, it did both. Some said he was the rappin' Nostradamus, like he could prophesy. But he was just saying that ill shit that niggas be thinking and no one wanted to say. The thing was, he lived his life in a way that the lyrics had to come true. He just went all out. Everyday was his first and last.

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Actor & Director of Poetic Justice on Pac:
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Janet Jackson (Poetic Justice)

I feel very fortunate to have seen another side of Tupac, someone who was very caring and loving, a contrast to his public image. He will be missed by many.

John Singleton

It is very difficult to express what I'm feeling at this moment. Here in Los Angeles on 92.3 The Beat ' I hear many people expressing their shock, surprise, and hurt, all at the loss of Tupac. I'm sitting here feeling all that and more. Am I shocked? Yes. Am I hurt? Yes. Am I surprised? No. For years I've felt that something like this could happen to Pac. But now that he's gone, I'm feeling very numb.

'When I saw Juice, Tupac's performance jumped out at me like a tiger. My favorite scene is the one where. he threatens Omar Epps at the locker: "You right, I am crazy, I don't care about you, I don't care about myself " The scene felt so real. Here was an actor who could portray the ultimate crazy nigga. A brother who could embody the freedom that an "I don't give a fuck" mentality gives a black man. I thought this was some serious acting. Maybe I was wrong,

For many, it is easy to write Pac off as a crazy nigga who didn't know reality from stage or screen. It is true that he was an actor in every sense of the word. Tupac's acting career began at the age Of 12 in A Raisin in the Sun at the Baltimore School for the Arts. He possessed a natural gift for acting. Pac had aspirations to be as good or better than De Niro or Pacino. And I wanted to help him get there, to be his Scorsese. When I decided to cast him opposite Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice, it was not without some problems.

During the filming of Poetic Justice, Pac both rebelled and accepted my attitude toward him as director/advisor. This was our dance in, life and work. We'd argue, then make up. Get pissed off and then reconcile. This was the Tupac I knew: constantly traveling in his mind around-what was right or wrong. Looking for a father figure. Searching to define himself as a black man who came from nothing and suddenly had it all-money, women, cars, jewelry, and fame.

Now that he's gone, I can only wonder what he'd feel to know that so many people are affected by his passing. Everyone has a different story about what he meant to them-good and bad. But Tupac spoke from a position- that cannot be totally appreciated unless you understand the pathos of being a nigga- that is, a displaced African soul, full of power, pain, and passion, with no focus or direction for all that energy except his art.
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Actor form Above The Rim on Pac:
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Marlon Wayans

Me and 'Pac, we laughed a lot during Above the Rim. It's not like being with this ill gangsta that everyone portrayed his as. We used to go in the trailer and just crack jokes. We used to tease him and say he should cross out the T on his chest and change his image to HUG LIFE.