Notorious (2009)

The life and death story of Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace), who came straight out of Brooklyn to take the world of rap music by storm.

Director:

George Tillman Jr.

Writers:

Reggie Rock Bythewood, Cheo Hodari Coker

Stars:

Jamal Woolard, Mohamed Dione, Derek Luke

9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamal Woolard	...	Christopher 'Biggie' Wallace
Mohamed Dione	...	Record Executive at Party
Derek Luke	...	Sean 'Puffy' Combs
Dennis L.A. White	...	Damion
Marc John Jefferies	...	Cease
Menyone DeVeaux	...	Hot Girl #1
Christopher Jordan Wallace	...	Biggie (Age 8-13)
Ricky Smith	...	Wally
Amanda Christopher	...	Keisha
Angela Bassett	...	Voletta Wallace
Jasper Briggs	...	Damion (Age 8-13)
Cyrus Farmer	...	Selwyn
David Costabile	...	Mr. Webber
Julia Pace Mitchell	...	Jan
Jermaine Denny	...	Primo

Storyline

NOTORIOUS is the story of Christopher Wallace. Through raw talent and sheer determination, Wallace transforms himself from Brooklyn street hustler (once selling crack to pregnant women) to one of the greatest rappers of all time; THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. Follow his meteoric rise to fame and his refusal to succumb to expectations - redefining our notion of "The American Dream."

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Plot Keywords:

rap music | death | fame | one word title | crack cocaine | 

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Taglines:

The story of the man behind the legend.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive language, some strong sexuality including dialogue, nudity, and for drug content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled Notorious B.I.G. Project

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,119,587 (UK) (13 February 2009)

Gross:

$36,842,118 (USA) (27 March 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Voletta Wallace Films, Bystorm Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min 128 min (unrated director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The car that is used in the drive-by when Biggie is shot, 2BAI222, is the same plate number that is featured in the first episode of Numb3rs, as well as the same plate number that Ian Warkin, lead singer in the band Lostprophets, uses in the music video for their song "Last Summer" in the car he is driving.

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Goofs

In a brief establishing shot of Los Angeles, the Staples Center can be seen. This building did not exist during Biggie's lifetime (Biggie died in 1997; construction for the Staples Center broke ground in 1998 and opened in 1999).

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Quotes

Notorious B.I.G.: Yo, Puff... maybe in the right hands, I could be one of the greatest.

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Connections

References Juice (1992)

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Soundtracks

"Born Again (Intro)"
Written by The Notorious B.I.G. (as Christopher Wallace), Easy Mo Bee (as Osten S. Harvey), Jeffrey Leon Walker and Harve Pierre
Performed by The Notorious B.I.G.
Courtesy of Bad Boy Records LLC
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

Great Movie For Biggie Fans

MY girlfriend and I went to see this opening night and I was a little worried about the director and first time actor Jamal Woolard but it turned out to be a great film. Now i am a Biggie fan so you may think this is biased but it was a well done movie and showed you the life of biggie and how he made it. There is a couple things that i thought were not so good about the movie like go more in depth his younger years so we learn more about him and also go deeper into the feud with him and pac. But other than that Jamal Woolard gave a great performance as well as the rest of the cast. Now my girlfriend doesn't even like rap and she liked this movie so i would suggest it to anyone. I am surprised about the bad rating but i guess people hate on the best rapper of all time too much lol