Can you believe it’s been 29 years since John Singleton released his classic film, Boyz N the Hood.
The movie starred many new actors like Cuba Gooding Jr., Nia Long, Ice Cube, Morris Chestnut, Angela Bassett, and more who would go on to become big names in Hollywood.
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As we celebrate the movie that hit theaters July 12, 1991, and would go on to become a staple not only in the black household but in cinema as a whole, check out 11 surprising Boyz N The Hood facts you didn’t know.
‘Boyz N the Hood’ was John Singleton’s directorial debut.
Columbia Pictures offered him $100,000 to let a more experienced director direct the picture, but Singleton refused because, although this would go on to be his directorial debut, he wanted to direct it.
Another interesting Boyz N The Hood fact is that the film garnered the newbie director (at the time) a “Best Director” nomination as well as “Best Original Screenplay” nomination at the Oscars. While he didn’t win, he did make history as the youngest person and the first African–American to be nominated for the award.
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Singleton used many incidents in his upbringing in the film. Singleton’s life was much like Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character Tre’s life. One of the scenes in particular when Tre’s father — played by Laurence Fishburne — shot at a home invader, was pulled from memory.
Despite Laurence Fishburne being Cuba Gooding Jr.’s father, he’s only six years older than the actor. Tyra Ferrell, who played Morris Chestnut and Ice Cube’s mother, she’s only seven years older than the actors.
‘Boyz N The Hood’ was the first film Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne starred as a couple — even if they were no longer together in this film. They would go on to star as the tumultuous Turners in ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It.’
Singleton had to convince Ice Cube for two years to star in the film. And while Cube actually bombed his audition because he didn’t learn the lines, Singleton was so convinced that he would be the perfect Doughboy that he gave Ice Cube another chance at auditioning.
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Stacey Dash auditioned for the role of Tre’s love interest. It would eventually go to Nia Long and help launch her acting career — and seeing the way Dash has turned out, we believe it’s for the better.
This film was the first major movie role Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, and Ice Cube had. Also it was the first major role for Cuba Gooding Jr. and Laurence Fishburne.
Thanks too many characters in the film seeing drinking malt liquor, many brand’s stocks went way up.
During the film’s release, violence rose in many movie theaters. After opening-night at one theater left two moviegoers dead, about 21 theaters pulled the film. Singleton who witnessed one incident doesn’t believe the film causes the violence because it was a reflection of real life.
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