 |
|
Subscribe to the Free Newsletter, BTN E-News
|
|
|
|
News
>
Film
Fiddy: From CD to Celluloid
posted on Nov 8, 2005
|
|
 |
| Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson with director Jim Sheridan on the set of Paramount Pictures' "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" |
 |
| Curtis "50" Cent and Joy Bryant star in Paramount Pictures' "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" |
"Get Rich or Die Tryin'" is the first release in producer Jimmy Iovine's new production deal with Paramount Pictures. The film started coming together when Iovine, a producer and Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, and Shady Records' Paul Rosenberg signed Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson to their label back in 2002. As producers of some of the most successful music acts in the business, as well as the very successful Eminem vehicle "8 Mile," they were instantly struck by 50's "charisma and vibe" (in Iovine's words) and decided they should try to make a movie with him.
As the story goes…in April 2000, 50 was infamously shot nine times, including a 9mm bullet to his face, in front of his grandmother's house in Queens. During his recovery and with the help of his friend Sha Money XL, the rapper released a series of independent G-unit mix tapes that created a buzz on the street. The CD caught the ear of Eminem and Dr. Dre, who signed 50 to a million-dollar record deal under their Interscope Geffen A&M Records Shady/Aftermath imprint.
Before 50's "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" debut album was released, the deal for a movie had already been sealed and 50 was well on his meteoric rise to hip hop super-stardom. His debut album went on to set the mark for the all-time best debut with 900,000 units sold in the first week and went on to be certified six times platinum. Hip hop history was being made. With his follow up, "The Massacre," in 2005, 50 Cent became the first artist to have four songs in the top ten of Billboard's Hot 100 since the Beatles in 1964. The album debuted at No. 1 and has sold more than 4 million units to date.
With Jackson's manager, Chris Lighty, Iovine and Rosenberg hired Terence Winter to begin writing a screenplay. The choice of Winter, a two--time Emmy winner for "The Sopranos," was obvious to the producers. "We felt there were many similar parallels between the Italian gangster world and the urban gangsta culture," says Iovine. "They share a language."
But the decision to sign on to the project didn't come as easy to Winter. "Jimmy Iovine from Interscope called my agent and said he wanted to have breakfast with me to talk about doing a hip hop project. I thought he had to be confusing me with someone else because you don't exactly think of me when you think of hip hop," he recalls.
"Iovine was very familiar with my work on "The Sopranos" and he said, 'look, a gangster is a gangster and you write those well.' He said he wanted me to hear 50 Cent. He sent me some CDs, an underground DVD of 50 and he sent me a copy of the album "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," which I loved, but I still said 'I don't think I'm the right guy for this.' He [Iovine] said 'you are the right guy, you just don't know it yet. I'm gonna show you that you're the right guy.'" This went on for about a month and finally Winter agreed to pen the script.
Winter says the process of writing the script was fascinating. He traveled with 50 on his Rock the Mic tour, and talked to him every day for two months. "I just needed to get comfortable putting words in 50's mouth so that took probably about eight or nine months of hanging out with him, hours upon hours of interviewing him. I did extensive research into hip hop culture, drug culture, gangsta culture, and finally got to the point where I could start hearing his voice in my head and comfortably start writing," he explains.
Director Jim Sheridan has long been a fan of rap and the culture surrounding it. "I thought that a story that mirrors elements of 50's life had enormous dramatic potential," says the six-time Academy AwardÆ nominee. "It's pretty powerful and interesting material to put on film. I'd seen 50 in videos and thought he had a great presence, but when we met, I knew after half an hour with him that I wanted to make a film with him. He's tremendously talented, focused, and disciplined, but he's also a very funny, charming person. And, because he knows he's lucky to be alive, he's a joy to be around. He's totally committed to the story we're trying to tell."
50 had entertained numerous film pitches but none of them felt right until this one. "It wasn't so much that I was waiting for a starring vehicle as I was waiting for the right project with the right people," he explains. The opportunity to make his motion picture debut under a director the stature of Jim Sheridan sealed his decision to star in "Get Rich or Die Tryin'."
"When we have a new, young actor like 50, who better to have than Jim Sheridan to work with him?" asks producer Jimmy Iovine, who also serves as chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records. "We knew Jim would be able to hone in on the rawness of 50's acting and his abilities."
As for Sheridan, he was very enthusiastic about doing a film about rap culture. Aside from his longtime interest in rap music, he "suspected that the rap world was closer in structure to film than any other form of music because of its narrative underpinning."
"Jim gets it," says Lighty. "He understands that community. The struggle in Jamaica, Queens or the Bronx is not much different that Jim's own struggle as a youth in some of the tougher districts of Dublin. We're just different colors; it's the same struggle of trouble, despair and violence.
The film's title says it all: It's about trying to excel and getting out of the 'hood by any means necessary without getting killed or ending up in jail," says Lighty. "I think every stock broker of Wall Street is living that life. Every American is trying to buy a Mercedes; we're all trying to get rich, or die tryin'. This is just 50's version of it."
Paramount Pictures' "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" opens nationwide on November 9.
|
|
|
|
