Tuesday, May 22, 2012

TI to Star in Identity Teft

Rapper-turned-actor T.I. will play a bounty hunter in Identity Theft, the Universal Pictures comedy that stars Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. T.I.’s character hunts both of them, as Bateman’s character becomes an unlikely companion for McCarthy’s character after she steals his identity. T.I. is co-starring in Kelsey Grammer’s series Boss for Starz, as well as the second season of his own VH1 series Family Hustle. On the big screen, he most recently starred in and produced Screen Gems’ Takers. He recently signed with WME, which will help steer his screen career, and remains repped by Category 5.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Andre 3000 Starring Jimi Hendrix

Considering how long this has been in development, and the number of similar projects that have fallen by the wayside including a mooted Paul Greengrass directed biopic, and a fictional road trip style movie, we figured the Andre 3000 starring Jimi Hendrix movie was not going to happen. Hell, even as far back as 2008 the actor/rapper himself said, "The funny thing with the biopics [is their uncertainty], I mean, it’s the same thing with ‘Hendrix.’ It’s kinda like, until you are on set doing it you can’t say what’s going on, because everybody wants to do the movie, but there are so many things that go into a biopic.” Well, it looks like the movie is actually going ahead. Titled "All Is By My Side," the film is gearing up start lensing in three weeks in Ireland, with a six week production schedule mapped out. John Ridley, the writer behind "Three Kings," "U-Turn" and the forthcoming "Twelve Years A Slave" has penned the script and will be directing as well, making his sophomore feature effort following 1997's "Cold Around The Heart." The film will essentially cover Hendrix's breakthrough period from 1966 to 1967, when he was discovered in a New York club by Linda Keith, a model and girlfriend of Keith Richards at the time, who introduced him to The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and producer Seymour Stein (who both declined to work with him), and eventually to manager/producer Chas Chandler who helped launch his career. He went to London, recorded Are You Experienced? and the rest, as they say, is history. No word yet on the rest of the cast, but last summer, Hayley Atwell revealed she was eyeing a role but nothing has been heard since. The big question here is if the film will have rights to the songs, licensing of which tends to be expensive and difficult to come by. But we presume if cameras are set to be rolling, some kind of approval on the film has come down from the musicians's estate, Experience Hendrix. Either way, we're curious as hell to see how all this winds up turning out. Are You Experienced? is a fairly defining moment in rock 'n roll history, and Hendrix is one of the titans, so let's hope it gets the treatment it deserves