Man, it's difficult to make a rap music biopic. Just a few days after Lifetime's upcoming Aaliyah project was almost sunk by their lead actress dropping out and the singer's family refusing to offer music rights, now we have yet another biopic controversy--although admittedly a less threatening one.
Disappointed that a no name actor was cast in his place, Eazy-E's son, Lil Eazy-E, is expressing discontent with the film's producer, N.W.A. alum Ice Cube. Lil Eazy tells TMZ that his dad absolutely would have wanted him in the starring role. As Lil put it, "I am my father. I look like him. I sound like him."
Specifically offensive, the rapper claims, is that Ice Cube cast his own son O'Shea Jackson Jr. to play him in the film. The way Lil Eazy sees it, neither he nor O'Shea are seasoned actors, so casting one and not the other is an offensive move on the rapper's part.
Silent, meanwhile, is Dr. Dre's son who was also never offered the role of his father.
Eazy-E died in 1995 after being diagnosed with AIDS.
[Update: Lil Eazy-E Is Coaching The Actor Playing His Father]
Though Lil Eazy E was reported to have been "outraged" at the decision to cast actor Jason Mitchell as his father in the N.W.A. biopic, he now claims he was misquoted and seems eager to assist Mitchell in his role.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Lil E said, "Jason has come to my grandmother's house where I was born and raised, where my father was born and raised and where N.W.A. started. I reached out to him to give him the support and any advice he needs. He has a big burden on his shoulders to bring forth the character and legacy of my father and the legacy of N.W.A., period."
Speaking on the TMZ report that came out earlier this week, E said, "[TMZ] just asked me, 'You're not mad? Everyone in the office is mad.' I said, 'OK, well, why don't you put it that "TMZ is mad at Cube?"' 'Oh, we can't do that politically.' If they can understand the political value in that, how can you not understand the political value of what's going on in the situation in why I did not get the role?
"I'm not upset about [the casting]," he added. "What Cube did was a great thing and a loving father, that you're supposed to do for your family and your legacy."
Read the full story here.
