Jackie Robinson defined sports culture by being the first African-American allowed to play major league baseball, a significant moment during a time in the 1940s where an unjust color barrier segregated our nation. Jay-Z on the other hand is a modern-day rap/hip-hop mogul and entrepreneur, being one of the most financially successful and popular artists in his genre. But with such a large gap in both men’s famous stories, who knew we’d see their works combine together on-screen?
/Film recently posted the trailer for Brian Helgeland’s Jackie Robinson biopic titled 42, showing the struggles Robinson endures while Jay-Z plays in the background.
Surely an attempt to grab younger viewer’s attention, the music sets a strange but effective tone amongst the trailer. Purists should expect the film to carry a much more swinging periodic tone as the music is only an obvious marketing ploy, but this trailer could be exactly what 42 needs to reach certain audiences.
The story of baseball’s first African-American player, and the legendary career he put together, should be a story appealing to historians, sports fans, and normal audiences alike, but if Jay-Z is what some people need to get excited for the upcoming film, Warner Brothers have stuck gold.
Plus, I’ll bite, I totally dug the vibe Jay-Z creates for the trailer, and that’s coming from a cinema and baseball fan already needing no more incentive to rush out and catch 42.
Relative unknown Chadwick Boseman will play the iconic Robinson, while Harrison Ford suits up as the man who signed Robinson, Branch Rickey. Alan Tudyk, Christopher Meloni, John C. McGinley, and Lucas Black fill out an impressive supporting cast, all of whom we can see when 42 is released on April 12, 2013.
What do you guys think of the trailer below? Does Jay-Z do justice to Robinson’s name?
