David Banner Tagged Articles at Cinematical

For fans of old-school hip-hop, Marley Marl's Juice Crew is the stuff of legends. So it really is about time that they got their very own musical biopic. In an interview with VH1 blog, Marl sat down to talk about the upcoming film titled Vapors (presumably taken from the Biz Markie song of the same name) that is set to start shooting this month in Queens, NY. For the uninitiated, Juice Crew were a hip-collective formed by Marl and its members included Roxanne Shante, MC Shan, Biz Markie, and Big Daddy Kane. The group was a way for Marl to highlight his skills as a producer and the group gained notoriety for their high-profile feuds with Boogie Down Productions and UTFO. Marl says that the film is going to be, "--basically me, Big Daddy Kane and Biz's life story leading up to 1988. How we got there. How we made the golden era pop. ... A lot of ups and downs, a lot of personal sh--. It is what it is." Marl, Roxanne Shante and Big Daddy Kane will all serve as executive producers on the film which is being made with Indiefilmx.com

According to Marl, Furqaan Clover has already signed to direct, but it turns out that some of the casting news released back in December might have been a little premature. BlackFilm.com had reported that Cuba Gooding Jr. had already been cast as Marley Marl, rapper-actor David Banner would play the part of Biz Markie, Evan Ross was playing MC Shan, and Jackie Long would appear as Big Daddy Kane. Now Marl tells VH1 that no decisions have been reached yet, and that they will choose, "The best actor possible, --- We gonna tally it up at the end and see who it could be. We need the movie 'Vapors' to make its point, and a lot of the young kids to know what birthed the golden era" -- Amen to that. Vapors is aiming for a 2008 release so start dusting off your Cazals and door-knocker earrings now.

Between the next Indiana Jones movie and the next Batman movie, location spies are really keeping busy. For the Batman pic, The Dark Knight, we've gotten cell phone photos from the unofficial Dark Knight blog, a report from JoBlo about the Joker, a report from Superhero Hype! about Scarecrow and a video from the Mancow radio show showing us footage of the Tumbler. MTV Movies Blog now has some further info for us regarding a new character named Gamble. The character is yet another villain, though certainly not as prominent a bad guy as The Joker. Cast in the role is an actor well-known to comic book fans: Michael Jai White, who played the title superhero in Spawn and who also has voiced characters in the Justice League cartoon. White won the part over rapper/actor David Banner, who MTV had previously reported as having excitedly auditioned back in May.

Many comic and movie fans may be worried that having another villain in The Dark Knight could make it too much like the crowded Batman and Robin or Spider-Man 3. According to MTV Movies Blog, however, Gamble is only a minor thug. The blog got the scoop directly from producers Emma Thomas and Charles Roven that Gamble is one of the crime bosses attempting to fill the place of Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson's character in Batman Begins). The plot of The Dark Knight will begin with Batman having to decide what criminal is a bigger priority, Gamble or The Joker, an dobviously he will choose The Joker. We also know that Scarecrow is in the film, and there are other characters who may later become villains, such as Harvey Dent (Two-Face) and possibly Edward Nygma (The Riddler).