50 Cent on Power, Southpaw + Working With Jake Gyllenhaal

Curtis Jackson—otherwise known as 50 Cent—is a busy man. In addition to starring in and executive producing the second season of Starz series Power, he’s promoting his male underwear line, Frigo, and will be appearing on the silver screen in the upcoming film Southpaw on July 24th. The Weinstein Company film is the story of Billy “The Great” Hope [played by Jake Gyllenhaal], light heavyweight champion of the world, whose tendency towards rage has caused both his greatest triumphs and greatest tragedies. 50’s character Jordan Mains is both Billy’s manager and one of his lifelong friends. His presence in Billy’s life is representative of the pull between the wealth his anger earns him and the personal relationships it threatens. Haute Living was lucky enough to sit down with 50 to discuss a few of his upcoming projects.

Photo Credit: The Weinstein Company

What intrigued you about playing Jordan Mains in Southpaw?

When I got a chance to read the screenplay, I thought it was so cool. There were so many authentic points in it that I thought someone from the world of boxing had to have a hand in it. The cool part of it is they wanted people to have an insight. They put Roy jones in the actual film. You feel like you’re watching HBO at moments; it’s real moments you’d only see in a real fight. It’s a film about fighters that when they leave it will make them feel like everyone has a fighter in them. If they don’t have an actual fight in front of them they have something in their lives worth fighting for.

What was it like working with Jake Gyllenhaal? 

Jake’s a good guy. I ended up going to see the premiere of Nightcrawler. It blew me away—he almost looked anorexic. He was smaller than I had ever seen him. I was like, ‘Yo this wasn’t even the same guy I was on set with!’ it was a little weird. Then I went to seem him in Constellations opening night on Broadway. That was impressive. That’s 60 minutes without dropping a line. This guy is dope. In Southpaw we captured something special, but someone who can do Broadway that takes talent.

Any chance you’ll be releasing a solo album anytime soon? 

It’s been such a long time since I’ve been able to launch my solo music that I’ve been able to record and been able to have my personal ideas that I put aside for myself. We work as a group with G-Unit. It requires less of a performance out of me with four other artists involved.

What’s happening with Power this year?

I’m on set in two hats—as executive producer of the show and as the recurring character Kanan. The second series is really impressive. Even those who weren’t too sure are going to be positive that this is one of the best shows on television. It all comes around at the same time. I’ll be producing music while the series is coming back on.

What other new projects are you working on?

I did a film, Spy, [that came out June 5th] . Power [started back up] starts back and July 24^th Southpaw comes out and I’m launching music in between those periods. When I’m not talking about films I’ll be talking about music. It’s been a build up to this point. I’ve had a lot of time in between to work hard on each one of these projects.

To read more on 50 Cent, check out the upcoming July/August issue of Haute Living Los Angeles!