The real ‘dope’
Filmmaker Rick Famuyiwa reimagined how his life could've gone off the rails in his new movie
‘I was always this weird outcast kid,” says filmmaker Rick Famuyiwa. “I’m a first-generation American. My parents are from Nigeria. I had this weird last name that looked Japanese, and then people would see me and go, ‘Oh. You’re not Japanese.’”
Famuyiwa has made a film that also defies expectations. “Dope,” opening Friday, is a classic coming-of-age comedy that just happens to star black actors.
The movie is about Malcolm, a nerdy teen (Shameik Moore) growing up in a rough section of Inglewood, Calif., who loves ’90s hip-hop and dreams of getting into Harvard. When he accidentally ends up with a suitcase of cocaine belonging to a local drug dealer (rapper A$AP Rocky), he must unload the drugs without ending up dead.
Famuyiwa, who grew up in Inglewood, says “Dope” is a “what if” exercise in how his life could have turned out.
The script began with a scene in which Malcolm comes across a drug dealer while riding his bike. It’s based on a true story.
“[The real-life dealer] was standing on the corner and asked me to come over,” Famuyiwa says. “Just like in the film, he said, ‘There’s a cute girl over there and I want you to say “hi” for me.’ I thought about that moment and how it could have spun in so many directions.” Criminal life was not for him. Instead, he passed his time skateboarding and catching waves. He later wound up at USC and made his feature debut with 1999’s “The Wood.” The director says “Dope” is partly about challenging Hollywood’s expectation of what a “black” film should be.
“There are constant challenges about what’s ‘mainstream,’” he says. “These kids in ‘Dope’ are as mainstream as the kids in ‘Superbad’ or ‘The Breakfast Club.’ ”