Last week kickstarted what will likely become one of the bigger director races of the next couple months: the search for a Captain America sequel helmer. While the gig is still up for grabs, some names included on the shortlist were George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau), Anthony and Joseph Russo (Community) and F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job). Well, it looks like the race has lost one of its runners.
According to Deadline, F. Gary Gray is likely out of the running for the Captain America follow-up because he is now in talks to direct Straight Outta Compton, the long in-development biopic about the rap group NWA. The film will see members Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Easy E rise out of south central LA and give birth to gangster rap. There was a recent rumor that the sons of the famous rappers would play their fathers in the film, but that has not been confirmed. The site describes Gray's conversations aboutStraight Outta Compton to be "hot and heavy," which means that he may not be officially signed on yet, but it may not be long until he is.
F. Gary Gray isn't exactly an Oscar-caliber director, but there is some sense in him directing the NWA biopic. After all, it was his first feature, Friday, that helped move Ice Cube's acting career forward. Obviously that was after NWA was no more, but it's still an insight that few other directors are going to have.
