John Singleton to reunite with Ice Cube for the NWA biopic?

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

John Singleton went from BOYZ N THE HOOD – a film that should’ve propelled him, then the youngest director ever nominated for an Oscar, to a new career level in Hollywood – to opening a Taylor Lautner action film (this weekend’s ABDUCTION) but Singleton is looking to go back to his roots. At the press day for ABDUCTION, the director revealed his in talks to direct STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, the N.W.A. biopic that would reunite him with BOYZ star Ice Cube.

WORLD TRADE CENTER writer Andrea Berloff was hired to write the script for the film last year, an odd choice but Berloff was working closely with Cube, who’s producing the film at New Line. There hadn’t been much movement on the project but Singleton told The Playlist, “The script is really, really good.”

Having Singleton return to South Central would make a bunch of sense considering it’s the style and setting that brought him to prominence.

But while some of this sounds great on paper, my question would be regarding the involvement of the other members of NWA. Eazy E is up jockin’ bitches in heaven but is Dre involved? MC Ren? Yella? I think it’s strange to have only one member be involved as a producer, especially when disputes within the group were often contentious (will the film skew heavily to Cube as a character?). Cube, after all, left the band in December of 1989.

Another issue is casting. You need to find actors who can act and rap, which isn’t always easy (see: NOTORIOUS). There were rumors in the past that Cube was interested in having his son and Eazy’s son play their fathers in the movie but it’s unclear if that’s legit.