00:00Hi, I'm Corey Murray,
00:04entertainment director at Essence Magazine,
00:06and we're here for a special Essence Debates
00:08with the cast and director of Straight Outta Compton,
00:11director F. Gary Gray, Jason Mitchell,
00:13and my namesake, Corey Hawkins.
00:15There we go.
00:17I must say, loved, loved the movie.
00:20Like, very serious.
00:22I'm calling it, it's the best movie of the summer.
00:24Oh, wow.
00:25I really, really do.
00:26Hey, hey, hey, here we go.
00:28I mean, from the music, the acting, to the nostalgia,
00:32to the timeliness of, this is sad,
00:35of the attack of black people by the hands of police.
00:38This movie just encapsulates everything
00:40that's happening in America now,
00:41although it's a story about something that happened
00:4320, almost 30 years ago.
00:45So, my first question is to you, Gary.
00:47You know, at the height of N.W.A.,
00:48there was a lot of national coverage
00:50about black-on-black crime, gang violence,
00:52and here you are filming this today,
00:55and even going back to Rodney King,
00:57because when that was caught on tape,
00:58it seemed like an anomaly.
00:59It was like, it was just this one random thing.
01:01But now, while you were filming,
01:03I'm sure while you were editing,
01:04three black men have been killed at the hands of police,
01:07and they were caught on camera.
01:09So, how did that shape you
01:10while you were filming, editing this movie?
01:13You know, what's interesting is,
01:16I've been involved with this project for four years,
01:18so when all of the headlines and our production
01:21kind of intersected, it was somewhat of a coincidence.
01:24You know, we put a lot of the stuff
01:29as it relates to law enforcement in the script
01:31years before this started to become an issue,
01:34or years before it became headlines.
01:36And so, when we started editing the picture,
01:40it just started just happening more and more and more,
01:43and again, it is sad.
01:46It is, you know, really sad that we're not talking about,
01:49oh, remember back in the day when N.W.A. kind of blew up,
01:51and back then when cops used to treat us this way?
01:54You know, we felt a certain way about it for sure, you know?
01:58Now, was there ever a part where you felt like,
02:00let me put in something extra because of what's going on now,
02:03or this was really just that story back then?
02:05No, you know, my job is to serve the story first.
02:10That's my job as a director.
02:11And it's unfortunate that, you know,
02:14if there is any type of political statement in the movie,
02:18we were making that well before these headlines,
02:20before Cincinnati, before Baltimore,
02:23before all the Ferguson.
02:24And so, I remember when I started to talk about
02:29how important it was to put it in the movie years ago
02:32because it's what shaped N.W.A.
02:34Compton in Los Angeles is the sixth member of N.W.A.
02:39and that city at that time and how dangerous it was
02:42is what forged the group.
02:44It's the reason why they wrote those lyrics.
02:47And so, it is unfortunate that we wake up
02:51after having edited the movie and we're speaking
02:54about the same stuff that was happening 30 years ago.
02:56Right.
02:57Yeah, that is heartbreaking.
02:59But you portrayed it beautifully, you know?
03:01Yes, you did.
03:02Well, thank you.
03:03Jason and Corey, when you were filming,
03:05that scene where you're, they're coming outside
03:07of the recording studio in Torrance, it gave me chills.
03:10What was that like filming that scene
03:11where the police attack you, call you gang babies,
03:14and you guys are like, we're recording music.
03:17What was that like for you?
03:18Well, it's funny that you actually bring that up
03:20because I remember that day clearly.
03:23And after a while, the tension started to build so much
03:27that we kind of needed an icebreaker, you know?
03:29So we were like, everybody act natural.
03:32We had to call the huddle, everybody act natural.
03:35And when one of the police cars pulled up,
03:37we just took out running, you know what I mean?
03:39It had a great, huge laugh because it was like,
03:42everybody kind of had, you know, after a while,
03:44it got real serious, you know?
03:45Because there was a lot of things that, you know,
03:49as an actor, you kind of don't know your freedom at first, right?
03:52So, you know, we did a couple of takes
03:53and it wasn't as free for the cops, you know?
03:57And we were kind of already in sync.
03:59And I remember when that burger got slapped out of my hand,
04:05how it felt, because that was all real.
04:08Like Gary, I don't know what he told him,
04:10but when they came back and slapped that burger out of my hand,
04:12I was like, wow.
04:15You know, so just to think about the pressure,
04:19like a lot of that was real.
04:20Like when I went to get up off the ground,
04:21all that was real, you know?
04:22And he really pushed me back down.
04:23Like it was, it was all real.
04:25And it felt like, I need a break after this.
04:28You know what I mean?
04:29Yeah, that was real, that was real anger.
04:31Yeah, it was, yeah.
04:32I felt, I don't know, I just, I felt humiliated, you know?
04:36I felt a piece of my, you know, my pride, my, my, you know,
04:41we were there, the group was there working.
04:44They were working on the album.
04:45And they just happened to be standing outside
04:48and just happened to be, you know, I've been stopped in Frisk.
04:50I live in New York.
04:51I've been stopped in Frisk several times.
04:53Once in front of my apartment in Harlem
04:55while I was taking my trash out.
04:57And if, and, and to, when they approached me,
05:02I didn't know what to say.
05:03Like I was shocked.
05:04So I look, you know, crazy like, you know?
05:06So it's, it's, it's a, it's a weird thing.
05:09This sort of dynamic between, you know,
05:12the police and, and the community.
05:14And we just got to hold each other accountable
05:16and hold them accountable.
05:18And they have to hold each other accountable as well.
05:20What'd you, what'd you think about that scene?
05:22Well, it was interesting because I, it made me commiserate
05:27with what black men deal with all the time.
05:30Right.
05:30And yes, you know, you think, okay, easy, you know,
05:33NWA started with drug money.
05:34Okay, fine.
05:35But here it is, they were clearly these guys trying to make
05:38a better life for themselves.
05:39Right, sure.
05:39And being attacked.
05:40And I mean, that, the black cop, oh my God.
05:43Eni, you gotta come here for two seconds.
05:45Yeah, just pop in real quick.
05:47This is the black cop.
05:49This guy, come here for two seconds.
05:50You guys have to remember this face.
05:52When you see one of the, I think,
05:55strongest scenes in the movie,
05:57this is the guy who attacked NWA.
06:00Yeah.
06:01No, but he's a, he's a great actor.
06:03Eni Clemons.
06:04And I just had to bring him in here because
06:06he just made you feel a certain way.
06:08And we didn't make it about race.
06:10Because a lot of people thought that we were gonna
06:12default to, oh, it's just white officers
06:15attacking black people.
06:17It's people in a position of power abusing their power.
06:21And we didn't make it about race.
06:22And this guy arguably did one of the best scenes in the movie.
06:24Well, two things, one, when you delivered that line,
06:26and you were like, you know, why are you standing up?
06:28And these are a bunch of gang bangers.
06:30And I was like, okay, I can see where he would think that
06:32because it's probably what he deals with on a daily basis.
06:35But I was like, but here are these,
06:36you're not giving these guys the benefit of the doubt.
06:38And it was so, so that was chilling.
06:40And then also, um.
06:42Why would you do that?
06:43Well, it was a lot of fun to play the role.
06:46And Gary, his style of directing is pretty masterful.
06:52He didn't let the guys in on a lot of things
06:54that we were doing to them.
06:55So that it was a very natural.
06:57Yeah.
06:59It was a very natural moment.
07:00Right.
07:01It was a lot of fun to see the responses from the guys,
07:04including Paul Giamatti.
07:06Yeah.
07:07He was, he was pretty in the moment.
07:09Yeah.
07:10Yeah, he spit in your face.
07:12He spit on my lip.
07:12It was so upset that I took it out on him.
07:17He took it out on him.
07:18In the next cut, I said, okay, all right.
07:21But it was a lot of fun.
07:22The movie's incredible.
07:24I'm just very fortunate and blessed to work with him.
07:26So thank you for coming.
07:26Yeah, it was wonderful.
07:29Come here.
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