A little while ago I did a list of the films I was most looking forward to in 2008. On that list I had “Righteous Kill” all the way down at #18. A lot of people often ask me why I’m not more excited about a movie FINALLY featuring Al Pacino and Robert Di Nero in a film TOGETHER (They were only really in 1 scene together in Heat, and never appeared on screen together in Godfather 2). The answer… is the picture below.
Ladies and gentlemen, if it were possible for a single photograph to actually be a sin against nature and man, the one below is it, and highlights why I’m not looking for forward to it even more. Ladies and gentlemen… in a picture with Pacino and De Niro…. is 50 fucking non-actor Cent. WHY THE FUCK would you put a talentless (I’m talking about his acting, not his music), non-actor in a film like this?!?!?! Again I say unto thee… WHAT THE FUCK!?!?! Ok, I get it, you needed to cast someone for the character of the young black angry dude… fine… THERE ARE LOTS OF TALENTED YOUNG BLACK (actual) ACTORS OUT THERE TO DO IT!!! Why in the name of all that is good and holy would you take a giant shit in this glorious Pacino/De Niro stew? Why would you ruin this for everyone???
I’m beside myself with disbelief. I’ve know for a long time that 50 Cent was in this… but actually seeing the picture nearly sends me into convolutions. This is WRONG on so many levels.
Normally your rants lose me, but I have to totally agree with this one.
What the fuck?
wow John i can feeel the hate :)
whats with this obsession with 50 cent being in this movie
hes not THAT BAD….i liked “Get Rich or…” it wasnt Goodfellas but with Jim Sheridan’s direction & Terry “Sopranos” Winter’s script he was pretty good.
I think of that movie like a 2 hours Sopranos episode
back to this Al/Robert movie
if the character calls for a black, burly drug dealer….why not 50??
hes dealt drugs his whole life
im sure there are better black actors out there…but man u gotta get over it…maybe 50 came cheaper than…maybe Micheal Clarke Duncan or Zeus “Tiny” Lister lol
even WITH 50 in the movie I cant wait to see IT…period.
will smith is a pretty damn good actor. in my opinion he should be in some better movies other than sci-fi.
Well, Jackson does have a physical presence.
And hey, you never know. We sometimes forget that Will Smith (Academy Award Nominee) and Mark Wahlberg (Academy Award Nominee) and Queen Latifa (Golden Globe Winner) were once in this same boat…
You know these days it damn near offends me to think of Will Smith as being used in the same sentence as current day rappers-turned actors…They couldn’t be any more different.
I’m okay with 50 Cent. Just so long as the powers that be didn’t bring in NAS or Ja Rule, I’m okay with it.
But would I rather see “an actor” in the role? Of course.
What’s done is done, and, more to the point, the majority of rappers/hip hoppers limit themselves in thier acting roles anyway. It goes in circles: most of them not only take stereotypical roles, but relish in it, because it does not contradict “the image”. Then they will speak out against “stereotypes”, then they will be cast as hoodlums, pimps and crooks because it does not challenge “the image”. Then they call themselves actors.
Every now and then they mix it up and play a street cop.
*****
A big chunk of the problem is in not willing to change the “image” and/or taking on roles that are flushing just “acting” work down the toliet. Another part is the refusal to take any acting lessons, or dropping out of such lessons. For example, Will Smith was mentioned in first comment. Will Smith is an exception because by the time “I Am Legend” rolls out, he’s had lessons, lots of films and Oscar nominations. There are some exceptions. Now, consider Justin Timberlake and his acting. Big difference.
Hollywood idiocy at its highest level.
common give the ¨coin dude¨ a chance !
who knows he could turn the next big willy?
AWWWWHELLLLNAWWWWW!!!
“WHY THE FUCK would you put a talentless (I’m talking about his acting, not his music), non-actor in a film like this?!?!?!”
You can put his “music” in with that too, no worries :P
If he plays a snitch that gets shot a bunch of times, he’ll be fine. Also, I thought Home of The Brave was fucking awful.
pffft talent off screen? rapping is just talking really fast, not even considered real singing, with a repetitive computer generated riff played over and over again. you combine that with the fact they dont actually write most of their songs if they write any of them at all.
still not paris hilton i guess. thats the only real positive thing outa this picture.
Wow obviously you havnt seen Home Of The Brave cause that movie is why I am not worried about 50 cent. he did remarkable in that movie
Perhaps they could cast 50 Cent as a rapper… He can’t mess that up. (I hope)
…heres to hoping that the next frame in the movie is De Nero and Pacino putting out guns and shooting him in the head!
Worst trend in movies ever – Every single rapper gets a movie role. WTF kind of dirt do the rap moguls have on the movie producers I wonder. That’s the only explanation. We just don’t see the sheer volume of pop or rock stars trying to make the cinematic leap the way we do with rap. It usually turns out just as bad when they do though.
FOr their part Pacino and DeNiro have got to make a living. Legendary status alone don’t pay the bills, and there just aren’t that many quality projects for men over 50. Maybe they should try their hand at rap?
He might not be in it for very long. There’s still hope.
You can almost *see* the brain cells trying to work out what these two higher beings are saying in fiddy’s face there…
Omg..John this was hilarious! As soon as I saw the pic, I spit my coffee out. Very funny read!
The only reason why I’m not shaking my head in embarassment for these two veteran actors is because they BOTH have done sh*tty movies themselves for years….
Sure they are legends…but they are legends that sell out as well…starring in a movie with 50 Cent, is funny, yet not surprising. :)
I am not going to make a judgement on the movie just yet. For me, it’ll be based on how much screen time 50 has in the movie.
I must say John, the topic for this article and the thought of you beating your keyboard as you probably wrote it is a little funny. :o)
I’m completely in agreement with you, John. It irks me to no end that they cast 50cent in this movie. The moment that news came out my anticipation for this flick fell. I really hope it’ll be good and we won’t have to endure scads of scenes with the man. Of course, there is a chance he might pull it off, but I’m not holding my breath.
Look at Pacino in that picture, he is like ”get the fuck outta here DeNiro, I got fiddy cent as my partner now”
Well we still have Heat…
With the possible exception of Ice T, I generally find that rappers tend to translate to the screen quite reliably. Perhaps it has something to do with their musical personas being a performance.
– Method Man (The Wire)
– Ice Cube (Three Kings)
– Mos Def (Monster’s Ball)
– Macy Gray (Training Day)
– Eminem (8 Mile… alright, so he was playing himself… but still)
– LL Cool J (Any Given Sunday)
– Master P (Dark Blue)
– Will Smith (I Am Legend)
There’s quite a long list, really. I appreciate that you may have hated 50 Cent in “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” but really, even if his performance is below par, it’s unlikely that it will completely taint the joy of seeing deniro and pacino on screen together.
At the very least, you could give the movie the benefit of the doubt – wait until the trailer hits before you unleash hell on it… ;)