Juice director Ernest Dickerson celebrates film's 30th anniversary, talks 2Pac's impact, Hollywood embracing streaming and more (Exclusive)
This past Tuesday, January 11th marked the official 30th anniversary of hip-hop classic film Juice. To celebrate the massive milestone and acknowledge its 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release, Attack The Culture spoke to the legendary director Ernest Dickerson to dish on everything from the film’s bonus features, working with the late Tupac Shakur and even his take on hip-hop still using the movie for priceless social media memes.
From understanding the need for streaming in 2022 to a possible Juice meets Pixar spin-off actually happening, Ernest Dickerson doesn’t hold back on making this an unbelievably unforgettable conversation. Check out some of the highlights and scroll to the bottom to experience the entire Juice 30th anniversary discussion!
The Juice hype is still real in 2022
I’m just surprised interest in the film has lasted this long. When you’re making a movie, you’re just trying to get it done. You’re doing the day by day job of getting it made but I’m just glad that the movie has resonated and that the interest still exists to this day in hip-hop.
The story is something that still resonates today and the problems young African American and even young men have growing up in their different neighborhoods. Some of it is the same problems we had before with the problem with guns in America and many of our youth is still a problem. I’m happy that I was happy to put together such a great cast that just resonated with people and still resonate to this day. I’m really surprised.
Dickerson’s family showed him how much Juice is still celebrated
For years, I sort of let Juice go out of my mind and then my daughter told me she and her friends were having Juice parties where they would watch the movie and recite the dialogue. I was like, ‘No, you’ve gotta be kidding me.’ I couldn’t believe it. That’s what happened. And then we found a renewed interest in it when my wife spearheaded putting together the 25th anniversary DVD and Blu-ray five years ago.
The response we got from it was incredible. To find out that it’s still lasting to this day - and seeing it released on 4K, I just bought a 4K Blu-ray player so I’m going to be watching my copy.
Ernest loves the bonus content and remembers 2Pac’s greatness
I love that because those four guys were incredible young men. To hear them talk about their attitudes towards the film and their characters and the themes from the film really goes a long way. It’s really quite interesting. The great thing about 2Pac was that while we were shooting the film, he always had a notebook and he would always in-between set-ups always go into a corner and write. He always tried to connect with people in the neighborhood.
He’s talk to someone he thought was interesting or was going through something and he would go over and talk to them and then write it in the notebook. I like to think that was what was fueling his music when he finally got to record his first album. It was an incredible time.
I’m incredibly proud of those four men and we miss 2Pac to this day. I’m in contact with his family. We spent a lot of time with his family in Atlanta and they’re all part of my extended family now. Just hearing them tell their stories and their impressions and everything on that is great.
We finally get to see the true Juice ending
And I just love the fact that my original ending is in the extras as well. The studio made me cut the ending which was something in the 25 years since the film came out, it always bothered me. The studio threatened to not support the film if I didn’t cut it and soften the ending because it was a much softer ending than the original. It’s just one of those things you have to sit with and hate for all those years but finally the world can see it.
Check out the full interview below to hear Ernest Dickerson speak on streaming in 2022, a possible Pixar-type Juice spin-off and much more!
