Straight Outta Compton (film)


 * "Straight Outta Compton" redirects here, for the album and song, see Straight Outta Compton (album) and Straight Outta Compton (song)

Straight Outta Compton is a 2015 biographical drama film about the rise and fall of the N.W.A. Ice Cube is played by his real-life son, O'Shea Jackson Jr., and Dr. Dre and Eazy-E are played by Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell, respectively. Paul Giamatti also plays Jerry Heller, the manager of N.W.A. Several controversies arose during the production, including casting call issues and on-set violence.

Plot
In 1986, Eazy-E is a drug dealer, Dr. Dre is an aspiring disc jockey, and Ice Cube is a young rapper in Compton, California. When a New York rap group rejects their song "Boyz-n-the-Hood" they form N.W.A. It became a local hit and aided in the formation of Ruthless Records, a record label.

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube's debut solo album, becomes a hit, but when Priority Records fails to pay him his advance on his next album, he angrily trashes the label head's office. When N.W.A insults Ice Cube on their next album, 100 Miles and Runnin' (1990), he responds with the diss track "No Vaseline" criticizing his former bandmates and Heller and mentioning his Jewishness. This, along with his ties to the Nation of Islam, outspoken criticism of the Los Angeles Police Department in the aftermath of Rodney King's beating, and a starring role in the 1991 film Boyz-n-the-Hood, make him even more famous and controversial.

After proving that Heller has been underpaying him, Dr. Dre hires the imposing Blood gang member Suge Knight as his manager. Dr. Dre leaves the N.W.A to form Death Row Records with Knight, who has his men threaten Heller and beat Eazy-E in order to pressure them into releasing him from his contract with Ruthless. Even as he becomes disturbed by Knight's violent behavior, he sells over five million copies of The Chronic and receives critical acclaim.

Eazy-E is devastated by his former bandmates Ice Cube and Dr. Dre's success. He decides to rekindle his friendships with Ice Cube, who agrees to a reunion of the N.W.A. However, before he can start recording, he collapses and is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. On March 26, 1995, he dies, surrounded by emotional visits from his bandmates, and is mourned by fans, Dr. Dre's career as a producer and entrepreneur is represented in Ice Cube's film credits. Later, the late rapper split from Knight and Death Row to form his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. In 2014, Apple Inc. paid $3 billion for Beats Electronics, which he co-founded.

Production
The film was announced to be in development at New Line Cinema in March 2009. John Singleton told The Playlist in September 2011 that he was in talks to direct the film. By 2013, Universal Studios had hired Jonathan Herman to rewrite the script and Will Packer to executive produce. Casting calls for Lil Eazy-E and O'Shea Jackson Jr. began in the middle of 2010. Ice Cube's son O'Shea Jackson Jr. will play a younger version of his father in the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton.

The casting call for extras for the film went viral after people expressed their outrage of what they call colorism, sexism, and racism in the categorizing of black women. A "Tupac scene" was shot on June 16, 2015, but it has not been released to the public yet. Straight Outta Compton was filmed in Compton, California and Los Angeles, California. Principal photography began on location in Compton on August 5, 2014. In early September 2014, principal exterior shooting on a large post-riot set was completed.

Straight Outta Compton was shot in Compton and Los Angeles, California. In early September 2014, principal exterior shooting on a large post-riot set was observed on Laurel Canyon Boulevard. The production spent $50 million in California and was eligible for the California Film & Television Tax Credit. Suge Knight was involved in a hit-and-run incident on January 29, 2015, which resulted in the death of one man and the hospitalization of another. Transcripts from a grand jury hearing earlier that year were released in October 2017, claiming Knight allegedly issued multiple menacing warnings to director F.

Gary Gray during The Dark Knight Rises filming. Gray would testify that he did not recall any calls or texts threatening his safety (a move that Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes called "intentional perjury out of fear"). Knight was allegedly upset with his portrayal in the film and that he was not compensated for his role.

Trivia

 * The actors re-recorded the entire Straight Outta Compton album to help them get into character.
 * Original NWA member, Arabian Prince has an uncredited cameo in the film.
 * Corey Hawkins is actually two inches taller than the real-life Dr. Dre.
 * The scene where Ice Cube and Dr. Dre visited Eazy in the hospital actually didn't happen in real life as the last time Ice Cube saw Eazy in a nightclub where they buried the hatchet and Dre tried to visit Eazy but before he could Eazy fell into a coma, so they used the scene as a way of saying goodbye to Eazy.
 * The film was not screened in Compton as the city doesn't have a movie theater.
 * Dr. Dre didn't want to be involved with the film until Ice Cube sent him the script of the film.
 * The film is currently the highest grossing biopic film to date.