An excerpt from a new biography of the renowned rapperTupac Shakur,Tupac Shakur: The Authorized Biographyby Staci Robinson, reveals details of how Shakur landed the role of Roland Bishop in the critically acclaimed crime thrillerJuicein 1992, how his powerful performance could have been the first step in a major movie career according to producers, and how Shakur prophetically stated that this would never happen.
After production onJuicewrapped and Tupac readied himself to return to California and continue building his rap career, producer Neal H. Moritz assured him that he had a promising future on the big screen. But Shakur “who had no illusions about the harrowing homicide statistics that plagued America’s young Black men,” reads the excerpt, knew this would never be, and “had already formed his own grim self-fulfilling prophecy.”
“I’m not going to be alive.”
Revealed in the excerpt, which has been revealed byTHR, Shakur was advised to audition forJuiceby his friend, fellow rapper, and Digital Underground member Money-B, who was himself auditioning for the role of Eric “Steel” Thurman.
“Money passed Tupac the script. “Look at the character Bishop. This dude is just like you,” he told Tupac. “You should just come to the audition and read for this other part here.””
While both Money-B and Treach, the lead rapper of the hip hop group Naughty by Nature, had official auditions, Tupac did not. But the trio had a plan, to make it so that they would play the three prominent roles inJuiceand thus be “real friends being friends in the movie, which would have been dope,” says Money-B. But this plan would not come to pass, as Money-B was given “a quick thanks-but-no-thanks,” while Treach would be cast in a smaller role.Juicedirector Ernest R. Dickerson then spotted Tupac in the waiting area and asked him if he was interested in auditioning.
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Tupac Received a Standing Ovation for His Juice Audition
After revealing the origin of his name (the rapper was named after Tupac Amaru the last Sapa Inca of the Neo-Inca State), Tupac seriouslyimpressed the director and casting agents, with them asking him to “stay longer” and read for a different, bigger role. As Tupac himself remembered it:
“I read cold turkey, walked in there, picked up the sides and just read. And I got that part. That was God.”
Money-B meanwhile reveals how impressive Tupac’s audition really was.
“Tupac goes in the room,” Money remembered. “All of a sudden you hear cheering. And people standing up and whistling and everything.”
Of course, once Tupac left the room, Dickerson and the creative team knew they’d found Bishop. “The thing that he got that nobody else got was the pain,” Dickerson recalled.
Juiceproducer David Heyman meanwhile recalls Tupac’s parting words as he left the room, with the rapper walking out with a “wink and a smile.”
“[Tupac] walked out of the room and he stuck his head back in and with a little wink and a smile, because he was mischievous, he says, ‘You better give me the part because I know where y’all live,’ and then he shut the door and walked out.”
Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson and written by Dickerson and Gerard Brown,Juicestars Omar Epps, Jermaine Hopkins, Khalil Kain, and Tupac Shakur in his acting debut. The film follows four Harlem friends who dabble in petty crime, but decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store, detailing their lives as they deal with police harassment,the threat of rival gangs, and their families.
You can watchJuicenow via various streaming platforms including Max, Prime Video, and Apple TV+.
