Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/798465
DGA QUARTERLY 67 PHOTOS: (TOP TO BOTTOM) EVERETT; PHOTOFEST (2) "I grew up in that environment, in that era, experienced some of the things that you see on the screen. We just focused on making it authentic." — F . G A R Y G R AY STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON F. Gary Gray L.A. gangsta rappers N.W.A. would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame roughly four months after Straight Outta Compton (2015) proved a surprise hit, eventually grossing north of $200 million worldwide. For Gray, though, the story was personal. "I grew up in that environment, in that era, experienced some of the things that you see on the screen," he said. "We just focused on making it authentic." BIRD Clint Eastwood A lifelong jazz fan, Eastwood has played a producing role on documentaries about such seminal figures as Thelonious Monk and Dave Brubeck. So it's not a cliché to reference Bird (1988) as the director's "passion project" about a subject, Charlie Parker, who was near and dear. "I was exposed to jazz early," said Eastwood, "because it's given me optimism that we can all hang together."