Jay Z, Kanye West and Questlove Work Behind the Scenes of Chris Rock Film
Top Five, a new movie that Chris Rock wrote, directed and starred in, picked up a major distribution deal with Paramount at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Kanye West and Jay Z both received co-producer on the project, while Roots and Tonight Show bandleader Questlove served as the film’s executive music producer. The distribution deal, worth a reported $12.5 million, was the biggest of the festival, according to Deadline.
In the film, Rock stars as Andre Allen, a standup comic who has become a Hollywood actor who comes to reconsider his comedy career and his past after a chance encounter with a journalist, played by Rosario Dawson. It all unfolds over the course of a single day. Tracy Morgan, J.B. Smoove, Cedric the Entertainer, Kevin Hart, Sherri Shepherd and Jay Pharoah are all confirmed to have roles in the movie. IMDb’s Top Five listing suggests that Adam Sandler and Tom Papa will also appear in the film.
Rock told Variety that his Andre Allen character was an amalgamation of Eddie Murphy, Kevin Hart and himself. He also drew inspiration from some other comics he looks up to. “Louis C.K. is one of my good friends,” Rock told the paper. “I watch his show. I watch Curb Your Enthusiasm. No one has done a movie like this. Just a movie about a comedian, a day in the life.”
A release date has not yet been announced for the film.
This isn’t the first Rock-Kanye collaboration. The comedian-turned-actor will be hitting the road this fall for what he’s calling the Black Plague Tour, which will likely kick off in the end of October. Rock said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in June that West suggested the name. “We were hanging out, we were listening to records or whatever and he said, ‘Black Plague,'” Rock said. “I said, ‘Ooh, can I use that?’ He said, ‘OK.’ Now that’s mine. Gonna spread the ‘black plague.'”