After roles in “Fast & Furious” and on “Suits,” Neil Brown Jr. is slaying the big screen as DJ Yella in the N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton.” The actor talks stepping into the shoes of a still-living legend and the tight bond he developed with his co-stars.
On understanding DJ Yella.
“Yella, his thing was he loved life, period. He loved life, he loved girls. He loved people being happy. So once I realized he was that type of guy, I knew how he was when it came to stuff like people arguing. He was the one, like, ‘Why you gotta argue? Can we just hug? Can we get back to this music?’ ”
On staying flexible.
“We got script pages every day, but they would say, ‘Y’all saying this,’ and then two hours later be, like, ‘Well, we changed all that, now you’re saying this.’ We wouldn’t even pay attention to the pages in our trailers, because we knew that by the time we got done with rehearsal they would’ve rewritten it twice. Gary [Gray, the director] wanted it to be sharp and tight and he wanted it to sound real.”
On the cast dynamic.
“With casting, they just hit that magic tone where we just naturally fit together. You know the guy who’s always talking a lot of mess, cracking jokes? All of us are like that, so the natural mechanism, our ability to laugh at life, made it easier for us to laugh at each other and come together. We all knew we were making something special and if we didn’t have each other’s backs, it was going to be garbage.”
On his audition.
“I went in and it went absolutely nowhere. I sucked, apparently! Then, like, four months later, they called again and told me I had [another] audition. They changed casting to Victoria Thomas. I went in and she grilled me. She was like, ‘Do less. Do less.’ Like, I’m doing less! ‘Do less than less. Make a different choice! C’mon you know how to do it! Do it right!’ I’m like, ‘Yo! Why are you acting like my wife right now?’ I left there thinking it was a complete waste of time even though I love Victoria so much. But I was called in a couple of days later because Gary wanted to meet me. And when I went in I didn’t realize it was like an unofficial chemistry read because Eazy [Jason Mitchell], Dre [Corey Hawkins], and Cube [O’Shea Jackson Jr.] had already been cast. And we just met out in the hallway. Next thing you know we’re talking for hours. Then it was, ‘All right, come on in and audition for Gary.’ Couple of days later they called that I got the part. And I cried like a baby. I’m enough of a man today that I wept tears of joy.”
On his history with N.W.A.
“ ‘Straight Outta Compton’ was the first record I heard cursing on. It was like finding your dad’s Playboy. Cursing wasn’t on the radio, it wasn’t on records. The only cursing I heard was on, like, Redd Foxx albums and Richard Pryor albums that I would overhear my dad was listening to on the secret—no wonder my mouth is so bad! I just remember thinking [the music] was so dope. It spoke to me. My area was the part of Florida you didn’t talk about, with crack cells and what not. That music spoke right to me. The way police were and what police were doing, I got to experience exactly how rough it was. For someone to say it and put it out there, I fell in love. When the movie came up I thought, There’s no way I can be part of this movie; that’s just too much of a dream come true. And look at me now! Fifty feet tall over Times Square. I’m bugging out! You have no clue how weird it is! I’ve been at this for a long time.”
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