In his new memoir, From Staircase to Stage: The Story of Raekwon and Wu-Tang Clan, Raekwon reveals that RZA once shot down a Wu-Tang Clan biopic produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. Raekwon says he wanted the film to rival the success of NWA’s Straight Outta Compton movie.
The legendary rapper explains that, through the help of Q-Tip, he arranged a meeting with Dicaprio, in which the iconic actor seems very onboard with the potential project.
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“We had a great time, eating pizza, telling stories, laughing and s***,” Raekwon wrote. “Then we started talking about the possibility of a Wu-Tang movie and I told Leo I’d love to see him play a role in it, anything he wanted to do. He talked about his production company and all the directors he thought might do a great job — and these were big names and people he’d worked with. He was super open to the idea, and after that meal, he had his production company executives reach out to me. We took it to the next level with them. They were very interested, so we got the ball rolling, talking real numbers, with the goal of an even bigger release than Straight Outta Compton.”
Despite the meeting going well, Raekwon says he could tell RZA wasn’t feeling the idea.
“This bull**** hurt my feelings because it proved to me that he’d already counted me out before I began,” he said. “He didn’t think I could bring that kind of power to the table, but I’d gotten them there, all ready to rock and roll. They were excited and connected, so with the snap of a finger they could have gotten the ball rolling for real.”
Eventually, the rap group landed the Hulu series, Wu-Tang: An American Saga.
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