Half-Assed Internet Research
Research covers Tupac’s bruising shoot, Jermaine Hopkins’s wound, the censored poster, method acting, Dickerson’s source interviews, an accidental blank injury, Omar Epps’s music and DJ work, two memorial dedications, and the added ending announcement.
In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:59Read transcript
- An Entertainment Weekly report describes Tupac complaining that padding failed while gang actors repeatedly kicked him for a scene.
- Jermaine Hopkins concealed that he was recovering from a gunshot wound by calling it a football injury.
- Paramount airbrushed Tupac’s gun from the poster because it feared accusations that Black films incited violence.
- Tupac sometimes asked people to call him Bishop while preparing intense scenes.
- Omar Epps learned to spin records well enough that the DJ scenes could be filmed authentically.
- Dickerson developed the story by interviewing his cousin’s friends and recording their best stories.
- The gang performer was accidentally struck in the neck by a blank, leaving a visible powder burn.
- Omar Epps had a group called Vision whose music led to touring with Queen Latifah after the film.
- The actors revised dated script slang into their own vernacular, increasing the film’s authenticity.
- The ending dedication remembers Dickerson’s fiancée Janet and production assistant Tamu, who were both killed.
- A DJ announcement was added during test screenings to show that Q’s mixtape was being played and his career was advancing.
