Exclusive: F. Gary Gray Talks Straight Outta Compton

The World’s Most Dangerous Group is finally getting their lives and times out in the open. Come next week, the official N.W.A biopic, Straight Outta Compton will be in theaters nationwide, detailing the back story of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, DJ Yella and the late, great, Eazy-E, on how they were one of the first rap groups to take something out of nothing and explode on the worldwide scene. In a nutshell, us over at Hip-Hop Wired describe the movie as “crack cinema.”

The film, which was a half a decade in the making, was made possible by several variables, including the large contributions from F. Gary Gray. Best known to Hip-Hop fans as the director for the classic first Friday movie, his relationships with the group’s members allowed him to dig deep to present an engaging, and not always politically correct depiction.

We caught up with the veteran director ahead of the release of the film for an overview glimpse of what it was like working down to the bone marrow to present this body of work.

Hip-Hop Wired: Explain the wave of emotions you had when you first saw the completed project.

F. Gary Gray: The sense of gratification actually came from seeing it with an audience. I know what I felt before I shot it and I had a vision what it could be. But what’s in your head and what ultimately ends up on the screen is different sometimes–and how people receive is different sometimes as well. But when I saw it with an audience in Detroit, Philly, Miami and Atlanta, it was a true test right there. People are loving it and they get what we were going for. Whether you’re from Sweden or Chicago, people are getting it and I love it.

HHW: I saw you had a little slick cameo in the movie…

F. Gary Gray: Ah, man forgive my bad acting; it was a last-minute thing. We were actually auditioning a lot of people [for the role of pioneering West Coast DJ Greg Mack] and at the last minute [producers] were like, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ So I tried to knock it out and keep it moving.

HHW: Nah, I think after your spot in Friday, everyone can appreciate your cameos.

F. Gary Gray: [Laughs!!!] Gotta get my Alfred Hitchcock on. It wasn’t planned that way but it worked out.

HHW: But in real-time events, what were you doing in life?

F. Gary Gray: I was on the streets of Los Angeles. Surviving! Just a young guy appreciating their music and going through what they were going through. That’s why I loved the music because it spoke to me. A lot of the things in their music I experienced or saw first hand. That’s kind of where I was.

HHW: You’ve known Ice Cube a long time, too.

F. Gary Gray: Yeah, first time I met him was on the set of W.C. and the Maad Circle’s “Dress Code.” That was my first directing job and [Cube] was doing a cameo.

HHW: When you first met him, where was he at mentally with thoughts of N.W.A or did you guys ever talk about his experiences with them over the years?

F. Gary Gray: We never talked about that to be honest with you. We talked about music videos and how dope he could be conceptually and cinematic. And then those conversations shifted to movies. We didn’t really talk much about N.W.A at all actually.

HHW: When was the moment you knew this particular movie was happening and it sort of “feel into your lap?”

F. Gary Gray: I’d say it was 2011. I got a phone call basically like, ‘Yo, we’re doing a N.W.A movie,’ and I was a little nervous about it, honestly. There are so many ways you can get it wrong. I know the guys and I know there are so many stories. How can you fit all that into two hours–it’s a lot. But then [I read the script] and was pleasantly surprised. It needed some work; needed to be a little edgier and to add some of that “thang” that you dig and all that good stuff you get from the streets and making it Hip-Hop. But I also focused on addressing some of the structural issues in the narratives and the brotherhood. So it gave me a way in when I read the script. When I pitched it to Cube and subsequently the studios, they felt it.

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Photo: Universal

HHW: Time constraints are a mother. What was the biggest part you struggle with cutting out?

F. Gary Gray: Yeah…the first cut was like three hours long and it was tough to cut some of the stuff out because the actors were so good and the stories were so crazy. And you put all this work into researching and shooting it and it’s compelling. There will be a director’s cut, though. You’ll see more of the relationships with some of the women that’s in their lives. I don’t want to give too much away because at the end of the day, I am happy with what we are releasing.

HHW: Yeah, you can’t make it everybody happy. There’s a lot of characters not portrayed in the most positive of lights. [Former N.W.A manger] Jerry Heller for one, has been going on the record multiple times voicing his concern for how he’s portrayed. I wouldn’t say the slander he was looking for was present, though.

F. Gary Gray: Yeah, we weren’t trying to slander him! That wasn’t the idea. You are really trying to present the story in real human beings. There are days you have good days and days you have bad days. That goes for everybody on the coin and the story. You try to be…I won’t say the word ‘balanced’ but I’ll say ‘in-depth.’ You try and give some depth to these characters.

HHW: Suge Knight was another one who got plenty of camera time. Besides showing up to the set, did he ever try to block you guys legally with paperwork of any type?

F. Gary Gray: Not to my knowledge. I wasn’t there for [the shoot]. That was a commercial they were shooting for promo where Paul Hunter was the director. I was way on the other side of town.

HHW: Lastly, there are a lot of kids whose starting part with gangsta rap may be Dr. Dre–with Eminem. What could they expect to learn from Straight Outta Compton or even be moved to see it?

F. Gary Gray: If you have a dream, then this is the movie to see. Let’s think about it for a second. There’s a guy who starts mixing and scratching on turntables in his garage and then he becomes a billionaire. Then you have a guy who writes his rhymes on a peachy folder on a school bus as a teenager and he becomes a Hollywood mogul. And they grew up in dangerous and destructive environments. They didn’t have college degrees or anything like that but they changed their lives for the better. When it was time to stand up against bad deals or bad guys or oppressive forces, they did it. Everybody can identify with that.

The other part of it is, there’s no Eminem if there is no Dr. Dre. There’s no Dr. Dre if there’s no N.W.A. And I can go down that list with Tupac, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar. They may still exist–just in a different way.

N.W.A is the origin story. If you look at superhero movies and stuff like that, this is the origin story. And if you like any of those artists that I just mentioned, then you have to see Straight Outta Compton.

Catch Straight Outta Compton in theaters on August 14, 2015, courtesy of Universal Pictures.