John Singleton Trying to Make N.W.A. Biopic

Director John Singleton returns Friday, following a six-year layoff, with "Abduction," starring Taylor Lautner. We're a little underwhelmed by the trailer and Lautner both, but Singleton caught our attention recently while doing press for the film, with talk of another project.

“I can’t talk about it too prematurely about the stuff I’m doing because nothing’s come to fruition yet, but Cube and I are talking about doing the N.W.A. story,” Singleton told The Playlist. “The script is really, really good, and so we’re just figuring it out. New Line really wants to make it.”

The title of the proposed film would naturally be "Straight Outta Compton," the band's monster anthem from their similarly titled debut album. The record is a masterpiece, a seminal piece of American culture. But its wider success was thanks largely to the outrage expressed by the L.A.P.D., F.B.I. and U.S. Senate--those three august bodies did more to promote the band than a million publicists.

It'd be great if this band's story could be told, as it touches on just about everything: the American Dream, poverty, violence, race, AIDS, censorship, drugs, law enforcement, government... And it ends, incredibly, with Ice Cube being one of the most family-friendly filmmakers in Hollywood and a popular pitchman for corporate America.

As badly as we want to see this, we ain't gonna hold our breath.

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