While most of us are here wondering why ASAP Rocky is changing the artwork on his SoundCloud account, Rocky's hitting Sundance to promote an upcoming film of his. Monster, which is an adaptation of a book by Walter Dean Meyers, has been taking its time in the development stages, but the film (which is about a teen who is wrongfully thrown in prison on felony murder and robbery charges) got its world premiere at Sundance.
During their time at Sundance, Collidercaught up with Rocky and his Monster co-star Kelvin Harrison Jr. along with director Anthony Mandler to talk about their most memorable moments from making the film. At the same time, the three of them got quiet before cracking up, getting into a story about how Rocky actually broke his nose while working on the film.
Mandler explained, "Because we’re making a small movie and because we have method actors, they did the robbery and all their stunts, which is like a vicious fight scene. So the gentleman who plays the bodega owner who gets murdered is a very big, tough guy. Like a Spanish, uptown, 260-pound [guy]. So [Rocky] and John David come in and we just go, and it’s a full-bore wrestling fight with a gun flying all over the place, and actually on one of the takes Rocky broke his nose."
Word is that the scene was shot with a real gun (with the pin removed), and Rocky got smacked in the face with it, causing the injury. Mandler applauded Rocky's dedication. "The energy in the room was incredible and these guys were like jumping over the counter, and he was like, ‘Let’s go again, I’m good. I’m good.’ And I’m sitting there looking at his nose and it’s clearly broken, and he’s like, ‘I’m ready, I’m ready,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah no we’re gonna take 20 and let’s call a doctor.'"
Rocky commented that the timing sucked, because he had a Vogue shoot scheduled a few days later. He also commented that the pain from the shot didn't hit him until a few hours later. He further explained that the scene wasn't rehearsed beforehand. "We just shot it. But we wanted to do this though, JD and myself. John David told me, ‘Man you know what I had my uncles come here from Jersey, from New York, I want this to feel as real as possible, I wanted to do my own stunts, just like [it was] a regular day at the bodega.’ John David went through the icee glass, the icee machine. It was crazy.’… It felt like First 48 though. As far as the footage being raw and the rawness."
Collider's full interview with Mandler, Rocky, and Harrison will be released soon, so keep it locked for that.
