Tomorrow (January 17), the 1992 Hip-Hop classic film Juice will be celebrating its 22nd anniversary. In support of the milestone and to capture the film’s impact on the culture, Myspace has released an oral history of the film built from the comments of those who were involved.
Myspace had the weighty task of gathering the details from the players involved in Ernest R. Dickerson’s dystopian look at urban life. The film made big names out of its young stars, and it especially catapulted the late Tupac “2Pac” Shakur’s career to amazing heights. The remaining cast members and others involved with the film sat with Myspace to discuss the making of the flick, sharing intimate details and the like.
“They told us, ‘Maybe you should make this more of a comedy,’” Dickerson shared, who know works on Fox’s hit show, Sleepy Hollow. “‘It’s too dark…make it funny full of one-liners about these kids in Harlem who get in trouble.’”
Dickerson and co-writer Gerard Brown decided against following the advice of producers and instead forged ahead and made the film with largely unknown young actors on a $3 million dollar budget. With a soundtrack that some call the best ever made for a Hip-Hop film, Juice made $20 million at the box office.
The coming-of-age drama, featuring Omar Epps, Khalil Kain, Jermaine Hopkins and the aforementioned Shakur focused squarely on the group of friends and their aims of being respected in the hood. As Bishop, 2Pac was a bristling presence with a command of the role that sent chills to almost anyone who saw it. Omar Epps explains how it was on set.
“I remember when I first met Pac they were filming different groups of actors together. So they were like, “Alright, let’s try these four. They were trying to get that feel I guess. But me and Pac ended up hitting it off,” shared Epps. “It was just dope how it came together. Pac was just a powerful spirit, man. I never really spent time with Kanye West, but when I see him I see the same honesty Pac had.”
Check out Myspace’s “Oral History: Tupac, Fist Fights, and the Making Of Juice,” featuring accounts from Treach of Naughty By Nature, Big Daddy Kane and the cast members by clicking here.
Hit the jump to behind the scenes photos taken during the making of Juice.
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Photos: Myspace
