Tobe Nwigwe is a rapper, artist, producer — and soon to be action movie star.
During a recent appearance on Sway in the Morning, Nwigwe told the wild story of how he was cast in the upcoming Transformers: Rise of the Beast movie.
Nwigwe shared that Stephen Caple Jr., the first Black director in the Transformers franchise, had originally wanted to cast a friend in the role.
“One of his best friends was a fan of the music,” Nwigwe explained. “And his best friend — as they were getting ready to start shooting the movie — passed [on the role], and he had Paramount Studios reach out to me to try to play a specific the best friend role in Transformers. They kind of emulated who was his best friend was in real life.”
The friend suggested that Nwigwe take the role in his place, telling Caple to at least give the rapper a chance.
“But because I had never done no acting ever in my life, I just had the script right here and just read it like I was acting, and just recorded myself on the iPhone,” Nwigwe shared. “So I sent that in, and they liked it. They said, ‘Alright, yeah, we would love to have you.'”
But before Nwigwe could fully agree to the part, he had one more obstacle to overcome. The shooting schedule would require him to be in Montreal for a month, something Nwigwe knew he couldn’t do.
“Before we went out there, I said, ‘Yeah, unfortunately, the way my life is set up, I can’t be apart from my wife and my kids for a whole month. I don’t do that. They gone have to come with me,” Nwigwe said. “And when I suggested it, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not gonna be able to be an actor like we thought I was.”
Unexpectedly, the studio then offered to fly his whole family out, and the rest is movie-making history.
Nwigwe has shared snippets of the news on social media, including his very enthusiastic public service announcement when he first joined the cast.
According to the film’s synopsis, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will take place during the 1990s, as the Maximals, Predacons and Terrorcons join an existing battle on Earth between Autobots and Decepticons. The film will be released in theaters June 9, 202.3.
