The rapper spoke with ET about what drew him to ‘The Book of Clarence.’
Jay-Z and Beyoncé are taking over the world one industry at a time, even if it’s not intentional.
Speaking with ET’s Nischelle Turner at the red carpet premiere of The Book of Clarence, the “Empire State of Mind” rapper, 54, responded to claims that he and his superstar wife, 42, are looking to take over the film world after already dominating the music game.
“I think it’s all a part of being creative, you know? Create, you know, in lines,” he told ET. “Whether it’s audio, visual, etc – you just create and when you love creating. It doesn’t matter the pipeline in which you create.”
For Beyoncé, that meant releasing Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, a pro-shot documentary of her Renaissance World Tour. The film alone, since its early December release, has made nearly $50 million, according to box office estimates. Furthermore, the tour has grossed a whopping $580 million.
Between Renaissance and The Book of Clarence — on top of the couple’s previous forays into film including The Lion King and Homecoming — it appears the pair is ripe to take on the movie world in stride.
The Brooklyn-born rapper — who is notoriously stingy when it comes to accepting new projects — serves as an executive producer on The Book of Clarence. He explained to ET what made him sign onto the film and why he believes it’s a hit.
“It’s Jeymes,” he said, referencing the movie’s writer and director, Jeymes Samuel. “Jeymes is just a genius. We did The Harder They Fall together and we are gonna do a bunch of projects. We got a bunch of projects in the pipeline as well — he’s just fearless. He’s fearless and he’s creative. We went from Old West to the New Testament.”
The film, which stars Lakeith Stanfield and James McAvoy, follows Clarence (Stanfield), a down-on-his-luck man in A.D. 33 Jerusalem who is inspired by the story of Jesus Christ. He takes fate into his own hands by emulating the rising Messiah and His apostles in an epic story with modern twists, according to the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes page.
The Book of Clarence releases in theaters nationwide on Jan 12.
