The Wu-Tang Clan are a legendary collective, and the Staten Island group had an iconic entry into the game. With tracks such as ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ and ‘Protect Ya Neck,’ the nine-piece outfit took New York City by storm and put their borough on the map.
Following the success of N.W.A.’s 2015 Straight Out Of Compton biopic, Wu-Tang member Raekwon (Corey Woods) came up with the idea to have Wu-Tang Clan’s story told on the big screen and even recruited a star actor to help him produce the film, but RZA had other plans.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Woods unveiled that after the release of Straight Outta Compton, he reached out to Q-Tip to get in contact with the iconic actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Eventually, he managed to get hold of the thespian, and the pair met at a pizza spot in Brooklyn to discuss making a film.
Speaking about his meeting, Woods told Rolling Stone, “We had a great time, eating pizza, telling stories, laughing and shit. Then we started talking about the possibility of a Wu-Tang movie, and I told Leo I’d love to see him play a role in it, anything he wanted to do.”
Woods continued, “He talked about his production company and all the directors he thought might do a great job — and these were big names and people he’d worked with. He was super open to the idea, and after that meal, he had his production company executives reach out to me. We took it to the next level with them. They were very interested, so we got the ball rolling, talking real numbers, with the goal of an even bigger release than Straight Outta Compton.”
Raekwon took the news to RZA that he had the legendary Leonardo DiCaprio on board. However, Raekwon admits that the producer (real name Robert Diggs) was uncomfortable with the idea. Unveiling that RZA was unresponsive in the meeting with DiCaprio’s team, Woods disclosed, “He barely said anything and seemed to be going through the motions, nothing more, I could tell he wasn’t going to agree to do it.”
Diggs eventually came to the conclusion that they should produce a series instead of a film and insisted that he didn’t want Leonardo DiCaprio involved and rejected his offer to produce a Wu-Tang Clan movie. You can watch the trailer for the film series that eventually got produced.
