BILLIONAIRES CLUB: F. GARY GRAY JOINS
F. Gary Gray Joins Hollywood’s Billionaire Boys Club Straight Outta Compton is top-grossing film ever by a Black director.
This summer was off the chains when Straight Outta Compton hit the screen and the box office track to gross more than $200 million worldwide, F. Gary Gray-directed biopic the top-grossing film ever by a Black director. Gray beat out Tim Story’s Fantastic Four back in 2005 with $154.6 million, and Keenen Ivory Wayan’s Scary Movie, of $157 million back in 2000.
The N.W.A. biopic was co-signed by legends such as Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, and earned both critical acclaim and major box office dollars. But success attracts lawsuits, and Straight Outta Compton is no exception: former N.W.A. manager Jerry Heller, played by Paul Giamatti in the film, hit Cube, Dr. Dre, and the estate of Eazy-E with a $110 million lawsuit claiming his portrayal in the movie was defamatory, and he had not granted permission to use his likeness in the film.
Still, Gray and the other filmmakers behind Straight Outta Compton are still not thinking about the madness that comes with Jerry, they are too busy basking in a billion dollar success story.
