Rappers as Actors?

Well, skimming through some all too common Hollywood remake news, I stumbled upon this..

According to Film Jerk, Focus Features remake of John Carpenters Assault On Precinct 13 will hit theaters on January 21st, 2005. Jean-Francois Richet's Assault stars Ja Rule, Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Gabriel Byrne, Brian Dennehy, Maria Bello, John Leguizamo and Drea De Matteo.

Now, Focus Features has been a great indie distribution outlet, with movies such as "Eternal Sunshine..", "Swimming Pool", and the upcoming"Garden State."

That said, all hopes for this being good were dashed once I saw one name in the credits, and it wasn't John Leguizamo.

Ja Rule!

Since getting punked in public by 50 Cent, this "rapper" with little to no street credibility has resorted to movies. Suffice to say, he is a horrible, horrible actor. His credits include "Fast and The Furious", "Half Past Dead", and a small, forgetable role in "Scary Movie 3".

MY question is, what is that makes these rappers think they can double up as credible actor/entertainers? Do you guys WANT to see more rappers in movies, or is it kind of like a Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen
deal, where you'd love to see them die a horrible death at the hands of some horror icon?

What say you?

meh well i think eminem did a good job in the rap movie. but i dont wanna see another one try and fail.

Originally posted by Cinemaddiction
What say you?

I'll say firstly that this thread might belong in the Movie Stars & Celebrities forum. As for Hip hop artist or Rappers or Musicians (whatever people call them these days) I really don't mind them. If they can put a good performance then more power to them. Take a look at Tupac he was a hardcore rapper and made a movie with Janet Jackson. Did he do a good performance? I dunno know I never saw the movie. But the fact is that some musicians love to get into acting. Take a look a Rob Zombie or Kid Rock they are great rockers, but are they good actors? When it comes to movies they better have talent or else.....stay with music.

I have always felt that musicians should stick to music, while actors should stick to acting. I mean even if they are good at both, they should stay in their main profession. More and more musicians are trying their hands at acting, such as Bon Jovi in John Carpenter's Vampires:Los Muertos. I dont ever want to see Bon Jovi act. Billy Bob Thorton made a band i dont want to hear his music.

"You're pretty fancy, Wilson."

"I have my moments."

"Assault" is one of John Carpenter's lesser-known movies, and with good reason; it's not that great. It has elements of suspense and action, but held up against other siege movies, it tends to fall flat. One problem I always had with it was that the enemy was never clearly identified; it was just a generic punk gang that got hold of a ton of weaponry.

Plus, even though the acting wasn't too terrible, I can't think of a single actor from that movie that I've seen in another movie (with the exception of Tony Burton of the "Rocky" series). Maybe I just haven't watched enough alternative cinema for them to be familiar faces, but if they're going to be unknowns, they should at least be cult favorites at some point. Even "Escape From New York" and "Halloween" had Donald Pleasance to give them a little credibility.

It's not that it's really a "bad" film anyway; in fact, the shot of the little girl's ice cream cone and upper torso suddenly spattered with blood is one of the more vividly horrific images from my teenage movie memories. I recorded this movie from cable about 20 years ago, and have watched it enough times since then to be somewhat familiar enough to make an assessment, I think. In any case, I hope the remake makes the story a little more eye-catching.

Tupac could act but thats coz his high school was a school for performing arts (basicly an acting school)....some rappers can act and some cant...there are alot of actors who cant act either

i hate rappers or singers that act in movies.....but i like actors that sing, cuz usually they 'DO' hav talent

if you heard kevin bacon, billy bob thorton, or russell crow sing or try and play in a rock band i think you would be singin a different tune

i dont know why they dont just stick to their genre. Yeah some of them might turn out to be good, but some of them are out there to make bigger versions of their own music videos ( and this goes for more than just rappers).

the exceptions to the bad actor/rappers list is Tupac, eminem and the Queen.

i dont thin you can put eminem on that list yet...the dude was in one movie and prett much played himself...the other two you mentioned were more in one movie and did good jobs at playing different charactors

Originally posted by WindDancer
I'll say firstly that this thread might belong in the Movie Stars & Celebrities forum.

I disagree because it is a thread which actually contained a logical thought process.

Well as long as these rappers stay in "thier genre" of films (you know, things like Honey and You got Served) I don't really mind, since I'll never see them. Now, if they start getting inot drama, i see problems, big problems.

At the end of the day, who cares if its rappers turn actors or actors turn singers. As long as they do their job well, thats all that matters.

Will Smith, Eminem, Tupac, Ice Cube have all made brilliant performances in their films so who's to say someone else can't follow in their footsteps?

As long as John Leguizamo is in it, it should be good!

LL Cool J> Kicked ass in Shark Attack

Eminem> Kicked ass in 8 Mile

2Pac> Kicked ass in Above the Rim

DMX and Nas> were cool in Belly, but DMX sucked in all the rest of his movies.

Kid Rock> was cool in Joe dirt

Ja Rule> Sucks at just about everything he does...

While none of them were oscar worthy actors.....you have to realize most actors aren't either. And most people in real life can't even act like themselves well enough to earn an oscar. They do a good job portraying their characters in the movies...

Tupac owned it in Juice................

that's all I have to say on the subject.

Eminem is by the far the best raper actor out there its not easy to figure that out 😉 and his performance in 8-Mile was really suprising and impressing 🙂

He's only done 2 films!

Will Smith is the best!

Rappers always choose films that take very little acting ability, so it doesn't matter.

Originally posted by Bad Boy
He's only done 2 films!

Will Smith is the best!

god i hate rappers who think they can act seriously you talk bout getting shot but if u keep on making films w/ your horrible acting skills this will most likely really happed sniper