Ice Cube may soon funnel his frustrations with Hollywood and the film industry at large into forming his own movie studio, the actor revealed ahead of this weekend's Oscars ceremony. "Straight Outta Compton," F. Gary Gray's masterful N.W.A. biopic, was largely ignored in this year's Academy Awards nominations. Ice Cube, however, isn't really sweating it. "I wasn't surprised," the "Ride Along 2" star tells the Hollywood Reporter. Instead, Cube is focused on reinventing the industry from within.
"[Hollywood] ain’t cool enough yet," Cube tells THR’s Stephen Galloway. "It's got gatekeepers everywhere. Cool people still have a hard time showing what they got in Hollywood." To combat the industry’s penchant for lameness, Cube is apparently considering the option of simply heading his own studio to show the rest of the industry how it’s done.
"I’m ready to run a studio," Cube reveals. "I’m ready to green light movies and be in it to win it." However, according to Cube, such a move would not involve the gathering of necessary funds from sources outside the general Hollywood framework. "Then what you’re doing is fighting with your money to get back into the industry," Cube argues,"or for them to use your money instead of their own."
Looking back on his multifaceted career in both film and music, Ice Cube says he's proud to have consistently given aspiring artists the encouragement that big budgets don't always equal quality products. "You don't have to spend $200 million or $100 million to make a great movie," the soon-to-be Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee says. "And people can make money, have fun, enjoy it."
Peep the full (and quite extensive) interview here.
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