Many of the film's lead actors are respected actors today with impressive resumés but, like Singleton, many of them were unknown at the time, which was by design. ICE CUBE AND LAURENCE FISHBURNE WERE SHOO-INS. It was after seeing Lee’s Oscar-nominated film in theaters that Singleton began writing his own script. I’ma make a West Coast movie,'" Singleton said during a panel discussion at the 2011 LA Film Fest. “When they didn’t I was like ‘F*ck Spike Lee, I’ma do my own sh*t. He says that hiring Black people to work in front of and behind the camera was one thing he took from the director, but his motivation to make films like Boyz N the Hood came after Lee-who he looked up to-didn't hire him as a production assistant on Do the Right Thing.
Singleton was inspired and motivated by Spike Lee, though not in an entirely positive way. According to Ebony, Terminator 2 had a much wider theatrical release, but Boyz N the Hood made more money per screen. But numbers can be deceiving: Terminator 2 cost $102 million to make, or just under half of what it pulled in, while Boyz N the Hood only cost $6 million to make. The former raked in nearly $205 million domestically, while Singleton’s film only made around $58 million. In the fight for box office dollars, there was no competition between Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Boyz N the Hood in 1991. IT WAS TECHNICALLY A BIGGER HIT THAN TERMINATOR 2. Columbia’s response was to give Singleton the green light and $6 million to make the movie.
This is the movie I was born to make,'" Singleton recalled in the documentary Friendly Fire: Making of an Urban Legend. “I said, ‘Well, we’ll have to end this meeting right now, because I’m doing this movie. Columbia Pictures expressed interest in buying the film, and during a meeting Singleton was offered $100,000 to let a more experienced director take over the project. While pitching the script to different companies, Singleton refused to give out copies unless someone was willing to make a deal where he would get to direct the film, even though he had no prior feature film directing experience. SINGLETON WAS OFFERED $100,000 TO WALK AWAY. "This movie was my way of kind of getting out of the ghetto as a person.” 2. “It was kind of cathartic," Singleton said. He has stated in interviews and in DVD commentary that several elements from his real life made it into the script and film, from the blocks where he used to live to the elementary school that he attended and even a few specific events, including the time his father shot at a fleeing burglar.
The main character, Tre (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.), is sent to live with his father across town while his mother works and goes to school, which is the situation Singleton found himself in as a child. When writing the script, John Singleton (then 21 years old) pulled from his own life growing up in Los Angeles. The cast of unknowns went on to become a who’s who of talented actors and actresses, and the film is now considered an undisputed classic that changed how stories were told on film, not just for “Black movies,” but for all of cinema. With its raw story of life in South Central Los Angeles, the film shook the country and shocked the world with its unrelenting depictions of violence and poverty. The film marked the feature directorial debut of John Singleton, who was just 23 years old at the time. That’s the statistic that set the tone for audiences as they entered theaters 25 years ago today to see Boyz N the Hood, a film that took its title and one of its leads (Ice Cube) from the rap group N.W.A.
Most will die at the hands of another Black male.” “One out of every 21 Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime.