It was
obvious a long time ago that 50 Cent saw himself as more than a rapper. The guy
has been branding himself and G-Unit like a seasoned marketing executive, and
part of that plan means diversifying, so we’ve had to suffer through a couple
of embarrassing forays into the world of acting from the kid. But as the music
industry continues its slow swirl down the drain of fiscal disaster and G-Unit
albums continue to bomb left and right, you have to figure he’ll keep at the
movie thing whether he’s good at it or not. The best you can hope for is that
he continues to rope in good screenwriters, directors, and co-stars to pick up
an easy check to try and make him look decent onscreen.
A while
back, 50 Cent was announced as the lead in a drag/underground racing heist film
for Universal set in
much else came about after that. Apparently, someone up there realized there
wasn’t a lot differentiating this from the increasingly stupid Fast
and the Furious franchise, so Universal’s hit the reset button. First
up is an all-new creative team. Mexican director Alejandro Lozano is taking the
helm. He’ll also be rewriting the script with Tony Dalton, a guy he’s worked
with before both as a co-writer and as an actor. I’m not familiar with any of
their Spanish language work, but anytime
diversity behind the camera, I gotta love it. They’re going to rewrite the
script to add several more locations and set pieces as well, but I don’t know
how great they’re going to have to make it to withstand 50’s black hole of
onscreen charisma.
Here’s
the thing, Fif. I actually think you could make a decent career in films
because you are a naturally funny guy. No, really. Your dis records are baby-weak,
but when you start ad-libbing jokes at the end of them, I always crack up. If
you let the tough-guy ego down and stop trying to do drama, you got a chance. Right
now, I’m picturing you and Cam’ron in a buddy comedy. Between him yelling “Cuuuuuuuurrrrrtis”
every 5 seconds and you lampooning his repetitive baby talk style, there’s at
least enough material for…..a 3-minute skit. But Method Man and Redman had
about as much and they got How High made. Why let that stop
you?