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Director Cameo (1)
The self-hating black police officer was based on a cop whom John Singleton witnessed as a kid. Singleton felt it was critical to show this officer to show how racist black police could be towards black people.
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Ice Cube was John Singleton's first choice for Doughboy, he approached him at a rap music concert a couple of times, and Cube was reluctant to audition via a screen test, conducted by Singleton himself.
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A pickpocket in this film, who tries to rob Doughboy's crew and gets beat up, wears a T-shirt reading "We Want Eazy". This is a reference to Eazy-E, Ice Cube's former N.W.A. band mate, with whom he was feuding at the time of the movie.
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In order to maintain a sense of realism (i.e. shots firing unexpectedly), Singleton never gave the actors cues as to when the shots would be fired. As such, their reactions are real.
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John Singleton's Oscar nomination for Best Director at the age of 24 makes him the youngest director to ever receive such an accolade, beating Orson Welles by a good 2 years.
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In terms of investment, this was 1991's most financially successful film, making $56.1 million from a budget of only $6.5 million.
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At the beginning of the movie the voice of a little boy says, "They shot my brother". This is the voice of Kenneth A. Brown, who plays Little Chris as well in the younger years of Tre's life.
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Laurence Fishburne who plays Cuba Gooding Jr.'s father is only six and a half years older than him in real life
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In the scene where Furious (Laurence Fishburne) and his son (Cuba Gooding Jr.) are sitting on the rocks having a father-to-son chat, Furious mentions fighting as a young soldier in Vietnam. Laurence Fishburne starred in Apocalypse Now as a young soldier in Vietnam.
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Columbia wanted to make the picture, but at first wanted someone else to direct it. Singleton believed only he could do it saying, "They asked me if I would consider anybody else directing it?" Singleton replied, "Hell, no, I'm not gonna let somebody from Idaho or Encino direct a movie about living in south-central Los Angeles. They can't come in here and cast it and go through the rewrites and know exactly what aesthetics are unique to this film."
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While this movie was shown in theaters, several times, in different cities, there were shootings between gangs that came across in the same theater.
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Tyra Ferrell played Morris Chestnut and Ice Cube's mother, even though she's only 7 years older than them.
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