From crime to police brutality, the new film 1992 addresses real problems affecting cities across the country.
While the thriller is set in the year 1992, it explores issues that are just as polarizing today as they were three decades ago.
Tyrese Gibson leads the cast of the film as Mercer, a man desperately trying to rebuild his relationship with his son, when the L.A. Riots unfold — after four white LAPD officers are acquitted of using excessive force during the videotaped beating of Rodney King.
The late Ray Liotta co-stars as a father plotting a dangerous crime with his son (played by Scott Eastwood), as tensions rise and chaos erupts during the riots.
Related: Tyrese Fights for His Family in the Trailer for LA Riots Thriller ‘1992’
Snoop Dogg serves as an executive producer on the film, through his Death Row Pictures banner.
During the red carpet premiere in Los Angeles, on Aug. 27, Snoop said the crime thriller speaks to the history of police violence in L.A.
“Police brutality has always been a major situation out here,” the Long Beach native said. “That’s why the rappers would always rap about it.”
When a bystander recorded officers beating Rodney King after a traffic stop, the footage made international news.
Snoop Dogg said the video — recorded by George Holliday — of a Black man being beaten by police officers hit home.
“When that actually happened, it made the rappers seem like they were telling the future… and then it spoke to the justice system of how we’re treated unfairly,” he said. “So it was like all of that in the equation of us being rappers and being young and adolescents who have faced criminal cases and faced court, it just didn’t feel right. And it felt like it was an uprising within us, that we had to rise.”
The “Murder Was the Case” rapper noted that he welcomed the opportunity to work with the team behind the film.
“I actually lived through 1992 so I understood a couple of things that actually happened in that movie. And I felt like the story, the great acting, and the great directing, I wanted to be a part of it in any way I could,” he explained.
The film is directed by Ariel Vromen (The Iceman) from a script he wrote with Sascha Penn (Power Book III: Raising Kanan). The two are also producers alongside Andreas Rommel, Maurice Fadida, and Adam Kolbrenner.
In addition to Snoop Dogg, Tyrese is an executive producer.
The independent drama was filmed in Bulgaria and Los Angeles. After it made the film festival circuit, Lionsgate acquired the thriller.
1992 arrives in theaters on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, for the Labor Day weekend.
Watch the interviews with Snoop Dogg and the cast below:
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