Common is back on the big screen today in her new movie LUV.
The rapper turned actor stars alongside Danny Glover, Dennis Haysbert, Charles S. Dutton and Michael Rainey Jr. in the story of an 11-year-old boy gets a crash course in what it means to be a man when he spends a day with the ex-convict uncle he idolizes.
The film debuted a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival and is now being released in select AMC theaters nationwide.
During an interview with theGrio, Common talked about how the LUV compares to The Pursuit of Happyness which was released in 2006 and starred Will and Jaden Smith.
“I had a person that works at Sony tell me that LUV reminded him of a gritty Pursuit of Happyness. Which I was happy with,” Common said. “Because The Pursuit of Happyness had a lot of heart and of soul to it and it was a great film. So if you can compare LUV to that, then that’s a great thing.
The storyline in LUV includes many lessons that deal with guns, violence and drugs. Common says that his new film will help bring up a dialogue about gun control and violence in the urban community.
“I think what happens with our film is it brings up a dialogue about a lot of the violence that does exist within the inner city and we want to discuss and figure out how we can get to some peace for the youth.”
Follow Chris Witherspoon on Twitter at @WitherspoonC