Standing out from the fresh-faced majority of Boyz’ players is Laurence Fishburne. “He had it in his mouth when he was talking, and I was like, ‘This guy’s gotta be in the movie!’”), the actor kicked off a fad and found himself a Singleton staple, until he was murdered in an event with eerie similarity to Boyz’s street race at just 22 years old.
After coming into the audition with the prop in his mouth (“That kid walked in looking just like that!” said Singleton. Gobert, who made his debut as the scene-stealing, pacifier-chomping Dooky. Singleton showed that same casting loyalty to Dedrick D. “It was the film that people realized I could be more than Brenda, Mary’s daughter ,” King said.
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King’s first three films would all be from Singleton, but it was Boyz that allowed her to break out of early TV typecasting. It gave Chestnut, Cube and King their film debuts. and Angela Bassett their second film roles as named characters, after the less-than-impressive Buried Alive, Sing and Critters 4, respectively. Notice all that crossover? Boyz n the Hood was a hotbed of lasting talent. A few years later he’d cement himself as a household name with his Oscar-winning, money-showing turn in Jerry Maguire (also with King). is vulnerable and good-naturedly childish-a horny goober whose parents secured a good head to his shoulders and kept its fade touched up. “He’s my mentor,” said Cube, “the one who said if you can write a record, you can write a movie.” Cube wrote and starred in Friday (with Boyz co-stars Nia Long and Regina King) the same year as he appeared in his second Singleton movie, putting him on the path to become the powerful multi-hyphenate multi-franchise Cube of today.Īs his foil, Gooding Jr. Singleton and Cube’s relationship directly led to the latter’s place as an industry powerhouse. Even counting the abilities of casting director Jaki Brown (who also handled Juice, South Central, Hollywood Shuffle and-funnily enough- Jackie Brown), Singleton’s choices stand out.Ĭube is captivating as Doughboy’s ex-con Confucius, rolling through punchlines, macho posturing and embedded social commentary with the ease you’d hope for but never dare to expect from a musician skilled at the same. And Cube and Gooding Jr.’s audition tapes did that before production even began, winning over studio head Frank Price, who became convinced Singleton “had good taste in actors.” What were the odds that Ices Cube and -T would prove themselves breakout actors only months apart? But Singleton had a vision, one rooted in his own experiences, that he-as a very young, Black first-time writer/director-needed to prove viable as more than just a great script. That should’ve been shoot-for-the-stars wishful thinking.
Doughboy, one of many characters straight out of Singleton’s life, was written for Cube. That should’ve been a clear sign of a greenhorn. and Chestnut were the first two actors that came to read during casting. Singleton’s story about a block and its residents centers on a group of childhood friends: Cuba Gooding Jr.’s straightlaced college hopeful Tre Styles, Ice Cube’s philosophizing dope dealer Doughboy and Morris Chestnut’s football prodigy/teen dad Ricky Baker (a name Taika Waititi would pay homage to in Hunt for the Wilderpeople 25 years later). The ‘90s saw a short-lived boom for Black cinema as studios looked to cash in on what they saw as a fad, and even if it took decades for the reliably racist film industry to oh-so-slowly come back around, some of the interim’s most familiar faces solidified themselves in vibrant roles straight outta South Central. Written and directed by a 22-year-old John Singleton, the potent debut wasn’t just an insightful look at traditionally ignored or caricatured communities, but an introduction to a vast array of talented Black actors who would go on to dominate the big screen in the years to come. coming-of-age counterpoint only a few months after New Jack City’s New York kingpin story, Boyz n the Hood helped change Hollywood 30 years ago. Coming in the wake of Do the Right Thing and Hollywood Shuffle, and providing an L.A.
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