Quoted: Reggie Rock Bythewood on Writing Notorious
Excerpted by Latoya Peterson
I was not enthused about the project. There seemed to be little humanity in Christopher Wallace. He sold drugs, used the “N” word as a noun, verb, and adjective, then became a famous rapper. My initial thought, “So what?” Instinctively, though, I knew if I could find a way to connect to him, the film would be entertaining. I liked some of his music. I also knew a film about this icon could be a platform to challenge some of the “cancers” plaguing the inner city. There’s an expression: “You have to enter somebody’s world before you lead them out.” That’s what I would try to do. [...]I interviewed the important players in Biggie’s life – Faith Evans, Lil’ Kim, Lil’ Cease, Wayne Barrow. Even P. Diddy came to the crib. The peripheral characters began to take shape. However, I still had not uncovered Biggie. I had to go “method acting” on this bad boy. Instead of looking outside of myself for the main character, I looked inside. I never sold drugs, but as a teenager growing up in the hood, money was important to me. I got a gig acting on a soap opera when I was 16. I wasn’t making Donald Trump loot but I was making as much paper as the drug dealers. I defined my manhood in in a materialistic, superficial way. As I reflected on all this, it struck me. This movie is not about a rapper. It is not about a drug dealer. It is about someone navigating his way to manhood.
Through my research, I learned Biggie was a work in progress. He began to redefine his manhood as he got older. I hoped that, maybe, I (or Biggie) could inspire some of the audience to redefine their manhood as well. Adding this theme was a dangerous game to play. The last thing the studio wanted was some political-statement movie. Still, I had to go where my passion lay. I would try and change the world, or at least a mind. I think using the “N” word as much as some folks do is ignorant. I pulled up Richard Pryor’s Live on the Sunset Strip on YouTube. Pyror talked about his trip to Africa and the revelation he had from being over there. He said he would never call another black man the “N” word. Well, there was no way to be authentic in Biggie’s world without using that word. However, I hoped to at least get a few people thinking about the way they were talking. I decided I would find a way to put the Richard Pryor clip in the script.
Secondly, I wanted to hold the mirror up to this world and reflect its beauty and its ugliness. Could I get into Biggie’s head? Could I reveal why he sold drugs without judging him? The only way to be successful here is to remember he is actually not an icon. He is a human being with weaknesses and strengths. [...]
Notorious kept my hands full for a year and a half. There were changes George and the studio asked for along the way. However, there are some things I never wavered on. Richard Pryor was never taken out. At the end of the movie, Voletta still talks about her son. Most of all, the film is about a boy navigating his way to manhood. The movie I set out to make is the movie that was shot (big sigh of relief). Fortunately, Cheo [Hodari Coker, the original screenwriter] feels the same way.
—”Everyday Struggle: Creating Notorious,” published in Script Magazine, March/April 2009
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Chris Chambers wrote:
I think any skilled writer can make anyone, no matter how boring, evil, sweet, silent, monstrous, laconic, level-headed the subject person is/was, and make them dramatically compelling. yeah, there are myths/emotions to navigate and agendas on many sides that’ll mess with you, but you do your best.
I saw “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (Jesus), and the foreign film Oscar winner from a few years ago “Downfall” (Hitler) both on cable in the same night.
Posted 23 Apr 2009 at 2:32 pm ¶
Invasian wrote:
Interesting.
I was torn on whether to see this or not (I haven’t yet) because it looked like another by-the-numbers screen biography.
I don’t think Biggie Smalls was what you would call a “role model,” but he was a great rapper. Sounds like the movie tries to shed a more positive light on his life that included hustling and related things. My question is: Do we always have to humanize the subject? Why can’t the writers just tell it like it was? Did Biggie’s troubled life and music career go hand in hand, and that’s why Bythewood had such a hard time getting attached to the project?
Posted 23 Apr 2009 at 3:53 pm ¶
9jah wrote:
I agree
I imagine he arrived at the different phases in his life through contradictions in judgment, defining experiences – some hard, some joyful, personal circumstances and myriad influences that each person experiences in varying degrees. It is these attributes that I think make for a compelling story when manipulated properly.
The outcome of drug dealing and rapping are a by product and not the story as he may very well have been something else.
Posted 23 Apr 2009 at 5:30 pm ¶
RCHOUDH wrote:
I’d like to know when this movie’s coming out. I remember liking some of Biggie’s music, especially his debut single. It would be great for them to shed some new light on his life prior to becoming famous. Both his and Tupac’s lives are very popularly reviewed on those VH1 and E! True Hollywood type shows. But they always like to focus on their lives after they became famous, bypassing how they lived prior to all the fame and fortune.
Posted 23 Apr 2009 at 6:16 pm ¶
thescoop wrote:
BLACK AMERICA AND THE N-WORD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2U0jmZjec
Posted 24 Apr 2009 at 1:55 am ¶
pololly wrote:
It’s out, isn’t it?
Is it me or has Obama’s election just sucked all of the energy out of this project? It’s like everything is now ‘post Obama’ and this feels weirdly pre-Obama. I emphatically do not mean post racial or ‘non hopeful’. Just strangely not of the moment.
Posted 24 Apr 2009 at 5:22 am ¶
aimerrouge wrote:
Notorious was relaesed in theaters on January 16, 2009. The DVD has just been released – April 21, 2009.
Posted 24 Apr 2009 at 10:49 am ¶
jen* wrote:
pololly – I get your feelings about it not being “of the moment”. It does seem…dated…somehow.
And yet, I’d like to see this. But it’ll be on DVD.
Posted 24 Apr 2009 at 3:13 pm ¶
John Jihoon Chang wrote:
@Invasian: “My question is: Do we always have to humanize the subject? Why can’t the writers just tell it like it was? Did Biggie’s troubled life and music career go hand in hand, and that’s why Bythewood had such a hard time getting attached to the project?”
Doesn’t telling it like it is require humanization of the subject? After all, isn’t Biggie a human? It only requires reading of mainstream media (at least circa Biggie’s life) to get the general perception of Biggie as hustler/rapper. People go to see biopics generally to see a fuller picture of the person.
As a writer, it’s hard to get attached to a subject that’s so troubled (unless you’re unusually compassionate), but when you’re dealing with actual people, no one is as simple as a drug dealer, an executive or a carpenter. Everyone’s got a story and the challenge as a writer, but also a compassionate human being, is to see the other person as just that: a person, despite all the traits in that person we might revile. Otherwise, we risk becoming judgmental and placing ourselves above the other, when really, we’re just as human and fallible.
Sorry about the lengthy monologue… currently trying to write an antagonist at the moment without turning her into a mustache-twirling caricature (although she wouldn’t have a mustache to begin with, I suppose). =)
Posted 24 Apr 2009 at 4:04 pm ¶