2Pac dabbled in acting alongside his notable rap career. In fact, several interviews point to the idea that 2Pac wanted to pursue acting over music. Furthermore, director Allen Hughes has gone on record saying he believes that 2Pac would have been as big as Denzel Washington if he had not been killed in 1996.
2Pac's third film was Above The Rim, a 1994 sports drama directed by Jeff Pollack. The film follows Duane Martin as Kyle-Lee Wilson, a talented high school basketball prospect who finds himself trapped between prestige and his community. The central conflict of the film is whether Wilson will participate in a streeball tournament for his beloved coach or Birdie, the local drug dealer played by 2Pac. However, another notable character is Wood Harris' Motaw, Biride's fiercely loyal and utterly ruthless lieutenant. Above The Rim was Harris' film debut and he found himself learning a few valuable lessons from 2Pac.
Harris Learned About An Actor's Power From 2Pac
Wood Harris shared the lessons that 2Pac gave him during a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. “What I gained from 2Pac as a professional was I realized the power of the actor from 2Pac,” he began. “There’s a scene in the film where – it’s not even a scene, it’s a clip where we just drive up, get out of the car, enter the park. That’s the whole shot. So it’s action, we drive, we get out and walk in, cut. And we were in separate cars. I’m in my own car and 2Pac was in another car. He has a young lady driving him to the game.”
He continued. “So 2Pac grabbed [a knob] and slipped. There was a rhythm to it. Did it again and it was like, ‘Cut!’ He said, ‘Oh you guys gotta fix this. This ain’t working for me.’ So they said, ‘Nah let’s just try it again! I think you’ll be able to get it.’ So the second time, same thing happens. He gets out the car, goes to the trailer, stays in the trailer like two hours. So what did I learn from that? I learned the power of the actor. Because they had to come, put another knob on the car for him. He chilled out, basically smoked weed in his trailer for two hours. He had the set smelling like whatever it was going around. But I really did gain that because it was a real gain. I realized that once they start filming you in the movie, they’re pretty much at your whim after that.”
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