The only fake part of 50 Cent’s ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’’ movie
50 Cent has successfully managed to mythologise his own life story, in no small part because of the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
The film contains elements from what really happened to 50 in his younger years, but the question is how much of it is real and how much of it was added to the script for dramatic effect. According to the man himself—who, admittedly, is hardly a neutral source—the film is “about 75%” factual.
Released in 2005, the movie follows Marcus Grier, 50’s character, as he turns away from his life of drug-dealing in order to make it as a rapper. The parallels between the character and 50 are obvious, but, clearly, some artistic license must have been taken. But 50 claims that it was mostly all based on reality.
Where the film does part from what actually happened, according to 50, is in how his character was looking for his dad. The real-life 50 apparently didn’t take that so seriously, as he revealed during a conversation with BlackFilm.com in 2005.
“What’s fictional is the part where I’m so much in search for my father,” he claimed. “I got to the end of the film early in my life and I felt like I’m supposed to be able to do that without that assistance at this point.”
50 believes that his dad, in real life, may been a useful figure to have around when he was getting involved with doing business on the streets. But he wasn’t there, and 50 made do. That meant that, by the time he was grown up, he had outgrown the need for his father. He never actually felt the need to look for him.
“The things that my father would have been able to help me at probably would have been when I made the decision to go out and hustle,” he said. “Because he wasn’t physically present to provide guidance at that point, I don’t think it’s necessary at this point. I’m a grown man now.”
As for some of the real things that the film depicts, Get Rich or Die Tryin’ recreates 50’s shooting. This, one might expect, would be a traumatic experience to return to, but 50 found the process of making the film cathertic.
“It was therapeutic,” he said. “There were things in my life that I hadn’t put a lot of thought into. The film forces you to go back to certain places in order to make reference to the emotion, which you are supposed to display on actual screen.”