It Was a Good Day: “Straight Outta Compton” Stars Hit Premiere

Universal(LOS ANGELES) — Amidst stepped-up security, the stars of the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton hit the black carpet in Los Angeles Monday night at the downtown entertainment complex L.A. Live. 

The movie not only drew the young stars who portray Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and the other members of the controversial, groundbreaking rap group, but also their real-life counterparts.

Cube is played by his strikingly similar-looking son O’Shea Jackson, Jr. He told KABC-TV his dad did give him some advice on playing the role: “Don’t have me frown all the time, you know?” he said of his father’s famous scowl — now seen in mainstream movies like 22 Jump Street. “Humanize him a little bit.”

For his part, Cube the elder calls the movie “the origin story,” adding, “This is how N.W.A. came together. You know, there’s a lot of entertainment that we’ve gotten off the N.W.A. family tree and not known, and here’s a way to show people where it all comes from.”

Director F. Gary Gray has won acclaim for the film, but he’s giving a lot of the credit to Universal, which bankrolled the nearly 30 million dollar project. “…To see a studio get behind a movie like this, it’s not like just a rap movie. It’s treated the way it should be treated. This is American history.”

Straight Outta Compton, which also stars Jason Mitchell as the late N.W.A. co-founder Eazy-E, Corey Hawkins, who plays young Dr. Dre, and Paul Giamatti, opens nationwide Friday, Aug. 14.

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