Ne-Yo declines 'MLK' Movie starring role

Truly a momentous fork-in-the-road professional decision for an entertainer....

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Was he foolish to turn down the role of a lifetime? (Considering CD sales are so fickle these days)...

http://www.essence.com/2012/07/24/n...er-king-movie-role-refuses-to-gain-30-pounds/

 

the best actors (i.e christian bale) know that if you wanna firmly set your foot in hollywood, you have to be willing to transform your entire physique. that's why the usually muscular bale dropped serious weight to play a crackhead ex-boxer in 'The Fighter.' He usually regains his weight afterwards. But the man speaks multiple languages as well, so he's very versatile. Any role you give him, you know he's going to literally fit into it. Johnny Depp's silly ass is the same way, but that's kinda why we all flock to see any movie he's in. I think passing up the role of MLK could have pissed away an Oscar for him, depending on the script and director. If his album tanks hard, he's going to be begging for another chance.

 

Even 50 Cent dropped mega poundage to play a role.

And Will Smith gained weight to play Mohammad Ali.

Also Deniro in Raging Bull. (Won the Oscar)

It's not like MLK was obese or flabby. He could have nicely bulked/thickened up and even used some padding, too.

 

If he has more tracks like these dude is going double platinum. My girl is gonna have an epic Saturday night because of this join. This is Dark Knight Jr making music homie

[YOUTUBE]25E-IUvR5lQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

if ur serious about acting and people come at u with scripts, that's what u do

its not like a movie about MLK wouldnt be a major release

everybody would go see that, black and white

 

You usually get notice for going down in weight ie Tom Hanks in Philidelphia outside of Deniro I don't remember it working the other way. Dude is an incredible r&b artist I'm actually looking forward to the album even though his weight gain wouldn't have affected me getting the album

 

The music clip is waaaaay better than the dime-a dozen song. :???:

 

Agreed. And maybe world wide. MLK is famous all over the world. Ne-Yo is not a household name...but he would have been. Music is timeless...he could have delayed the release. In fact, his MLK role's exposure would have created more fans, no?.

 

I thought Ne-Yo was....!??

Nevermind. 'Some' men can be VERY vain about their looks. Like, it's not a some time thing, it's the ONLY thing.

IMO Ne-Yo thinks he's too 'pretty' to be fat.

 

I'm with you, Bliss.......I am surprised he turned it down. I would have loved to see him play the role. Wonder who they will get now?

 

Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jone's Diary. She did it twice.

Unaffected his fans -- agreed. It's sad that he feels he can't make as much an impact unless he looks slim. I know, I know we are a superficial society, etc...but if Frank Ocean can succeed....Luther...

Ugh, it's just frustrating...I don't CARE and never have the size of my favorite musicians and vocalists.

 

haha yeah when stallone packed on pounds for 'Cop Land,' he got ridiculed hard

evidently in america it's always better to be thin than fat, even if ur 6'0, 140lbs like 50 in that movie

 

Reading some of the comments, some are touting his performance in RED TAILS as superb, but most are 'Thank goodness, he is no actor"...

Then again, Will Smith is a rapper-turned Blockbuster movie actor. Though by the time he reached the Ali role, he was certified. Ne-Yo is an unknown passing on the role of a lifetime...and of an even much more poignant story than Ali.

 

Yes...Will is who I was thinking of in my head as having successfully made the transition. And he is well respected now. I don't know Neyo kind of has a full face and he isn't stick thin. I can just see him looks wise in the role. It will be curious to see who wins the role now.

 

Don't believe one word of this. I will admit to keeping up with upcoming projects in the industry and NEVER have I come across anything as idiotic as Ne-Yo being offered the role of MLK. Actors/celebrities tell fibs, half-truths like this all the time to puff themselves up; to make it appear as if they are not only in demand but have a lot of options on the table. Perhaps...perhaps...someone at an industry party (maybe in a druken stupor) made that suggestion to Ne-Yo. People in the business go around every minute talking about future projects to celebs that never get off the ground which leads to wannabe movie stars like Ne-Yo trying to improve his stature by blabbing about it to the media. Hell, Aretha Franklin went around telling the world that Halle Berry wanted to play her in a bio-pic. That was not the case.

The only person I can even contemplate casting Ne-Yo as King is Lee Daniels, who has a rep for giving major roles to black non-actors (mostly music stars), and he was in line to do a MLK film too. But I don't even think he would have been that crazy. He even had a real actor lined up to play the part. So unless Daniels was stroking Ne-Yo's ego at some get together, I think Ne-Yo is exaggerating a bit about how close he was to playing such an icon. I hope so. Otherwise that tells us a lot about the horrible state of black actors in Hollywood. As if Tyler Perry playing Alex Cross wasn't a bad enough sign.

 

Personally I'd prefer to see an actual actor. r&B artists/rappers usually suck ie 50 in almost everything, Justin Timberlake in everything, Beyonce in everything, Usher in everything, Kelly Rowland in everything, Master P in everything. Usually people are only great at one thing. Maybe good at many things but only great at one. There's a reason why Denzel played Malcom X and not Tupac. With so few opportunities I would prefer to see an up and comer get some new blood in the game who actually acts well.

 

Its refreshing to see someone who is not ready to do anything just to be on screen. Its obvious Ne-Yo sees himself as a musician first and actor second.

 

Very interesting take. Essence Magazine is credible to me and one would assume a long-standing publication would practice Journalism 101 with standard fact checking. So IDK...
I did for a brief moment think "publicity for his "September 18" release date" as to why he is telling all this when he could have just kept it moving)

Often times though, producers like to go with an unknown so as not to detract from the SUBJECT. Who was Christan Bale before Batman? Christopher Reeves before Superman? Jamie Fox played Ray and he was a comedian turned actor.

*Granted Denzel was in his prime when he did Malcolm X, but he was truly the only actor IMO able to pull off the character in that you were very quickly transported to Malcolm and not see Denzel.

 

Will Smith was a natural though. Very few rappers will even come close to Will smith even when he first started acting.

 

I thought Timberlake did a decent job in Alpha Dog during the more serious scenes. 50 was decent in Home of the Brave.