After releasing the first clip of Andre 3000 as Jimi Hendrix, producer Danny Bramson for Jimi Hendrix: All Is By My Side, told Billboard. ‘The idea of anyone playing Hendrix, let alone a right-handed guitarist, was one of the greatest challenges of the project…We bet the house on our one and only choice, André Benjamin.’
The big challenge of Andre 3000 was learning to play with his left hand, since Hendrix was left-handed. To prepare for the part, the Outkast rapper had exhausting practicing sessions, playing guitar for large hours of each day,‘He sat in a small studio, six hours a day, putting in dedication. 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.
Following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last September, ‘All Is By My Side’ is one of many music films that will receive their U.S. debuts during South by Southwest’s film festival in March (TODAY 12yth March!), according to Billboard. The film focuses on the period between Hendrix’s start as a New York City backing musician to the time right before his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
The movie will not feature any of the songs composed by the late Hendrix, who died at age 27, (after had aspirated his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates) because his property refused to make the transfer of the respective rights. Instead, in the biopic, Andre will play versions of Hendrix songs for other artists, including songs from The Beatles and Muddy Waters.
For a glimpse at the movie, watch the clip below.
