Freddie Gibbs Says He's Studying Samuel L. Jackson To Avoid 'Bootleg Ass Looking Ass Rap Movies'

Freddie Gibbs has shown off his acting skills in music videos such as “Crime Pays” and “Giannis” off his Bandana album with Madlib, but he’s determined to take things even further onto the big screen. During a recent appearance on Showtime’s Desus & Mero show, the Gary, Indiana rapper revealed he’s just shot a movie and wants to do even more work in the film industry.

“That’s the move man, right now,” he said. “That’s really what I wanna do. I really been studying cats like Samuel L. Jackson… that’s my favorite actor of all time, period. So I just been looking at some stuff and tryna figure my way out and some things I wanna do and like I said, really studying and writing and starting to get a vibe for it.

He added, “I don’t really wanna jump in it and just be another rapper tryna be in movies, you know what I’m saying? I coulda been shot my own bootleg ass looking ass rap movies but I ain’t wanna do that. I wanna come in on some Sundance Film Festival type shit. I coulda did a lil hood movie a long time ago.”

In 2017, Gibbs revealed he auditioned for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar-nominated film Inherent Vice, but Michael K. Williams ended up getting the role.

“I go on a lot of auditions, I auditioned for that movie Inherent Vice,” he told Complex. “I missed the role to Michael K. Williams. Matter of fact, I lose a lot of roles to Michael K. Williams. The film industry is kind of like the music industry—if they’re not gonna let me all the way in then I’m just gonna have to create my own path like I did with music.”

Freddie Gibbs got close to a movie as a teen when 1996’s Original Gangstas was shot in his neighborhood. In 2011, he spoke to HipHopDX about the action film, along with the community’s appreciation of actor/former AFL player Fred Williamson returning to his hometown.

“They did that shit in my neighborhood, right over on 14th and Carolina,” he said. “They shot part of it over there in the park. They shot some in East Chicago. Yeah, I seen that shit. I’m glad I wasn’t in that movie man. [Laughs] I just watched it all go down. N-ggas in Gary liked that shit ’cause Fred Williamson actually came back and did something in the community, know what I mean?

Gibbs continued, “We wish Michael Jackson would’ve came back and did some shit in the community. It’s just fucked up that the richest, most influential, music family in music history is from Gary. But you look at that muthafucka and you would never know.”