André 3000 faced the ultimate challenge having to portray one of rock music’s biggest icons and most skilled musicians to ever hold a guitar, Jimi Hendrix, in the upcoming biopic “Jimi Hendrix: All By My Side”. To prepare for the part, the Outcast rapper underwent exhausting practicing sessions, playing guitar for large chunks of each day.
“He sat in a small studio, six hours a day, putting in dedication [to learn how to play left-handed]. His guitarmanship had to carry the idea of grace and fluidity. [Writer-director John Ridley] and I declared that we didn’t want to have the camera cropped on his face and not the guitar. He kept working in a rehearsal room throughout the production,” said the film’s producer Danny Bramson.
André 3000 having to master guitar as a lefty was only one obstacle. Not having the rights to Hendrix’s songs, however, was the project’s biggest obstacle. “The most serious of the challenges was the responsibility of creating and recording new and original material that puts you in the environment of interpreting Hendrix,” said Bramson. “I needed a guitarist with the skill and dexterity, but also that X factor of malleability where you can transcend your ego and personal styles and licks and let the musicology of Hendrix shine.”
“Jimi Hendrix: All By My Side” starring André 3000 will be screened at this year’s South By Southwest conference, ahead of its proper theatrical release in June.
