Though Dr. Dre has been flooding your Twitter timeline this week with a final definitive update on Detox and his announcement that all royalties accrued from the Compton companion album would be used to build a Performance Arts center in the middle of Compton, we shouldn't forget the main source of all this seemingly sudden Dre news: the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton.
In a new behind-the-scenes clip, both Dre and Ice Cube speak candidly about how satisfying the film's completion has been, citing a renewed legacy that was very important for them to cultivate and maintain. Elsewhere, Ice Cube and the filmmakers make a point to rebuke claims that Ice Cube's own son O'Shea Jackson Jr. got the role as his father due only to obvious familial connections. Apparently, O'Shea Jackson Jr.'s audition process was an astounding two years long.
Though a dual tone of respect and urgency in a biopic is a difficult balance to achieve, let alone maintain throughout an entire film, director F. Gary Gray appears to have done just that. If early trailers and the above footage are any indication (and I believe it is), then Straight Outta Compton could easily reach Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Lion critical territory.
Straight Outta Compton opens August 14.
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