After portraying his late father, Notorious B.I.G., in the 2009 biopic Notorious, 16-year-old Christoper “CJ” Wallace recently revealed that, despite his family ties to the film, he wasn’t initially enthused about accepting the role.
In an interview with thebvx.com, CJ explained his initial lack of interest in playing his father, saying that it took time for him to warm up to the role.
“When I did Notorious, my grandma, [VolettaWallace], told me that I should come in and read for the part as my father. Honestly, I didn’t want to do it,” said CJ. “I didn’t want to do it because it seemed so likely for me to do it, like Biggie’s son is going to play Biggie,” he says. “After I had my acting coach and really read through it, I started to find out things that I didn’t know about him. Then I took more of an interest in it. It was actually fun, going out to New York, living like him, going into his old apartment, doing what he did. It was cool.”
And now that the acting bug has seemingly bitten CJ, the young actor is next set to star alongside Will Ferrell in the upcoming dramatic film, Everything Must Go, in which he’ll play Kenny, an awkward loner who befriends Nick (Ferrell), a recovering alcoholic who’s left to live on his lawn after he loses his job and his wife leaves him.
Despite his burgeoning acting career, many people still wonder if CJ will one day follow in his father’s footsteps. But as CJ explains, he doesn’t feel that he could ever live up to his father’s throne in hip-hop.
“[If I did music], I feel that a lot would be expected of me, and I’m definitely not up to where my father was,” said CJ.
Everything Must Go is set to hit theaters on May 13. Watch the trailer below.
What do you think of CJ’s comments about his role in Notorious? Will you buy a ticket for Everything Must Go? –nicholas robinson
