Snoop Dogg joins Star Trek parody
Gangsta rapper turned entertainment icon Snoop Dogg has joined the cast of long-gestating Star Trek parody Unbelievable!!!!!, the production announced last week.
The West Coast hip-hop legend will co-star as Major LeGrande Bushe opposite co-producer Nichelle Nichols, who played communications officer Nyota Uhura in the original NBC series and six of the movies.
Snoop — real name Calvin Broadus — will also serve as an executive producer on the project, which has been in production since 2013, said Steven and Angelique Fawcette, the husband and wife team behind Unbelievable!!!!!
“He is by far one of the world’s most authentic and well-loved performers, reaching a vast array of audiences as well as varying age groups and races,” Angelique said in a statement.
“His music, as well as his persona, has the innate ability to relate to almost anyone. Snoop Dogg is the perfect person for our film and we are honoured that he has accepted and has begun this journey along with us.”
The movie follows the exploits of four astronauts — one of whom is an animatronic marionette resembling Captain James T. Kirk — who travel to the moon to rescue missing comrades.
An early cut of the movie premiered in Hollywood to mark the 50th anniversary of Star Trek in September 2016.
The film features more than 40 actors from the five live-action series — not including Discovery, which is currently in its debut season — and the various movies.
Expected to be available for distribution in all territories and all platforms in the coming months, the movie is scored by Gerald Fried, the Emmy-winning composer on several episodes of the original series.
Snoop, whose representatives weren’t immediately available for comment, rose to fame in 1992 when he was featured on Dr Dre’s solo debut album The Chronic. He has since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
His back catalogue of more than 30 big screen appearances takes in Scary Movie 5, Starsky and Hutch and Training Day.