Lil Peep Was in Talks For Movie Role Before Fatal Overdose
Lil Peep, the SoundCloud sensation turned genre-blending rap star, was exploring a film career before his death in 2017.
At the SXSW premiere of the Terrence Malick-produced documentary “Everybody’s Everything,” about the rapper’s rise and untimely end, filmmakers told Variety that Peep was being pursued to take on his first movie role.
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Sebastian Jones, a co-director on the documentary, said he met Peep in Austin, Texas “three days before he passed. I was at one of his shows, and I was so taken by him … I wanted to cast him in a movie.”
Jones is a collaborator and protege of Malick’s, who himself is a longtime friend of Peep’s family, the Womacks. Jones has worked as an editor and eventually associate producer on Malick projects like “Knight of Cups” starring Christian Bale and “Song to Song” with Ryan Gosling and Cate Blanchett.
Jones said he spoke to Malick about engaging Peep, whose real name Gustav Ahr, to star in Jones’ first feature.
“We were reaching out to him, and he passed away,” said Jones. Following the premiere at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Jones did not elaborate on the project except to say it is his next on deck and is set in Florida.
Documentary co-director Ramez Silyan, who also directed music videos featuring the rapper, said Peep had long expressed a desire to work in film.
“Gus wanted to be an actor and he had ‘it.’ He just had this thing… he wanted to do all sorts of things,” Silyan said.
“Everybody’s Everything” stresses that point with tremendous grief. Told through interviews with his music peers, management, childhood friends and close family, the documentary presents a sensitive and highly creative young man who would never realize his global superstar potential.
While Peep gained his fans and the adoration of top music producers through social media and digital sales, his brand began to to take shape in the year before his death. After successful tours with music collective GBC, Peep moved to London to record solo-leaning music, where he also lured the eyes of the high fashion scene.
Peep starred in a splashy V Magazine editorial shot by famed photographer Mario Testino and styled by former Lady Gaga design director Nicola Formichetti. He was also developing a clothing collection called No Smoking before his death. With fashion on his heels, Hollywood would not have been far behind.
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