Andre 3000 Says He Didn't Want 'Be Cool' Role At First

03/03/2005 6:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
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Andre 3000 of multi-platinum supergroup Outkast is a featured player in the John Travolta film Be Cool, which opens Friday (March 4). In the music industry comedy, which is a sequel to Get Shorty, Andre plays rapper Dabu, who is a henchman of sorts for Cedric the Entertainer's record producer character. The film is directed by F. Gary Gray, who has helmed the Negotiator, the Italian Job, and A Man Apart.

Andre says that director Gray -- who directed the Outkast videos "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" and "Ms. Jackson" -- saw his potential as a film actor and asked him to play the role. But while Andre says he loved the script, as a hip-hop artist he wasn't anxious to play a rapper. So he had a talk with Gray, who explained that he'd actually be playing against type.

"But I just didn't like the character because I was trying to break into film and I didn't want to be an entertainer and play a rapper, and I explained that to him," Andre said. "But he said, 'Well really, you gotta look at it like you're playing a rapper but it's against type. People don't really see you like that, you know. And really what you're doing is you are playing a parody of what people think rappers are.' So I said, 'Yeah ...'"

Andre recalls that Gray also told him he shouldn't miss out on the chance to be in a film featuring not only Travolta and Cedric, but Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughan, The Rock, Cristina Milian, Harvey Keitel, and Danny DeVito.

Once Andre took the role, he says he had to get used to his character's wardrobe, which included multiple chains and low-sagging pants. A style icon who has been named best-dressed man in the world by Esquire, the fashion-forward Andre says he hated the Be Cool costumes for Dabu.

"I hated my wardrobe coming to work every day, I really did," Andre added. "And actually sometimes Gary had to tell me to sag my pants even lower because I was still trying to hold it together and make it look right. But it was true to character."

Andre is also set to begin shooting a film with Mark Wahlberg and Tyrese that was originally titled Four Brothers. John Singleton is directing.

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