Notorious actor Derek Luke has spoken about what it was like portraying Diddy in the acclaimed biopic, revealing he initially turned down the role due to “too much heat.”
Luke stopped by The Breakfast Club on Monday (April 17) and talked about starring in the 2009 Biggie film, which he said he rejected multiple times despite Puff personally asking him to do it.
AD LOADING...
The actor explained there was a lot of tension at the time surrounding how accurately Biggie’s life and subsequent death would be portrayed on the big screen, as well as longstanding rumors about Diddy’s alleged involvement in the Brooklyn rapper’s murder.
“One of Puff’s guards sent word that they wanted to holla and I was like, ‘Word, okay.’ So I met him, greeted him, nothing to it,” Luke said. “I think he said he may have had something coming up and that was it. It was real brief.
AD LOADING...
“I don’t know how long after that, I was on Rodeo and I heard somebody calling my character’s name. Somebody yelled out of the car and they called me Boobie from Friday Night Lights, and I looked and it was Puff. We were talking, still nothing.”
He continued: “Long story short: I get a call and they was like, ‘Yo, we doing Notorious.’ I was like, ‘Eh, nah. That ain’t really for me. Let somebody else rock that.'”
AD LOADING...
DJ Envy then asked why Luke was so hesitant to sign onto the project.
“Too much heat, too much cultural pressure. Not enough time to get into the character,” Luke answered. “‘Cause they was ready to go right there and I was like, ‘Nah.’
“Then I got a call from Puff and … I was like, ‘I’m gonna pass.’ And then he came back again…Somehow, he called [again] and me and my wife was like, ‘Well, maybe this is a sign. Maybe this is a divine sign.'”
Also starring Jamal Woolard, Angela Bassett and Anthony Mackie, Notorious was released on January 16, 2009. While the film grossed $44.4 million on a $20 million budget, it received mixed reviews from critics.
One of those critics was Lil Kim, who hasn’t stopped expressing her disdain for the movie and hatred of Power star Naturi Naughton, who portrayed her in the film.
AD LOADING...
In 2020, Kim brought the movie up again while speaking with Fat Joe on Instagram Live.
“I hate that movie!” she exclaimed. “To me, it was like a spoof. It was something that I would have never approved. I didn’t like who played me. No. No, no, no, no.”
When Fat Joe inquired who was her top biopic choice, Kim explained that she not only would scout talent from her Brooklyn hometown (Naughton was born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey), but she would also step in to give it an even more authentic feel.
“I would go to Brooklyn and find a girl within that period that I feel represents Brooklyn, knows what it’s like to grow up in Brooklyn,” she said. “And then once I got in the movie and I get a little older, I would play myself from that stage.
AD LOADING...
“But from that point, I gotta go to Brooklyn and give some little girl from Brooklyn a chance to really, really show, I know who Lil Kim is for real.”
Revisit the Notorious trailer below:
