Features

ThaFormula.com - First off, how hard was it making this film, and did you receive any death threats or problems from anyone?

Nick Broomfield - I think the hardest thing about making the film was that it kind of echoed the racial tension that comes with the story, which is that from my side.  White people that I knew in America all thought that it would be dangerous and I would get death threats or shot and things like that.  Which is really before I had even started making the film and I was concerned, but then I thought it was such an incredible story that I kind of swept that sort of thing aside. I have to say that when I actually got to the neighborhoods like Compton, Watts, and Clinton Hill (which is where Biggie grew up), I have to say I never met more hospitable people who were proud of their neighborhoods. They were very welcoming and on the whole very pleased that anyone was interested in going into their neighborhood. I think, uh, I realized it later that most white Americans, they might go into Watts to go look at the Watts Towers but that's about it.  They are certainly not gonna go to Compton unless they get lost.  It's just an incredible fear that is not rooted in how people in those neighborhoods behave and I think that's echoed further when you realize that those neighborhoods probably have the worst schools, and the worst employment opportunities of anywhere. I think it's a miracle there aren't race riots every other week, if you really look at what has happened particularly since the 80's, and the disparity between the wealthy people and the people in those communities that got no work.

ThaFormula.com - There's no doubt about that and I'm glad you see what's happening.  So you had no problems then from anyone like the Feds or Death Row when making this film?

Nick Broomfield - I think we had some problems with Death Row.  Death Row didn't want the interview to happen with Suge Knight and I think when we went ahead and just did it anyway, but there was a panic in the Death Row camp. I think they were worried about what Suge might have said. I think he obviously is someone who fires from the hip and has obviously gotten himself into trouble before so I think that's why they wanted to have someone watching the interview, watching the questions, and probably advising him what to say.  They wanted to see all our footage and then when we didn't want to give it to them, it was kind of like, "where are you staying?" There were lots of questions like, "what plane are you gonna be on" and "where are you staying?" so it wasn't an out and out threat, but it was more intimidation and there were many days where we would receive upwards of like 10 phone calls.  So that was very intimidating in it's own way. Intimidating enough to where the person who was shooting the film didn't want to go to the prison and shoot it and this was somebody who had done lots and lots of filming so it was fairly substantial, that kind of intimidation. But then again there weren't any bullets fired and nothing happened.

ThaFormula.com - As you started to get deeper and deeper into the murders and started making some serious connections, did you start to get worried or paranoid at anytime during filming?

Nick Broomfield - Well yeah I think so because it seemed never ending and I felt that there were a lot of people who knew things that weren't coming forward. Particularly also within the police department, within the FBI.  You fear that they might have a position to protect and they are obviously in that position of power anyway so that is of course a legitimate concern.  So that was kind of eerie and you just got the feeling that if you maybe discovered too much and it got too uncomfortable something might happen. There was always that fear that yeah, throughout the filming that you could go too far and something might happen.

ThaFormula.com - Do you think Nick in making this film that you went as far as you could or was there a limit to how far you could dig?

Nick Broomfield - I went as far as I felt I could.  I took it to the point where I felt I had uncovered some new stuff.  I had also Ms. Wallace and Russell Poole in touch with each other.

ThaFormula.com - That had never happened prior to this right?

Nick Broomfield - That had never happened and then there was a lawsuit which the Christopher Wallace Foundation was bringing against the Los Angeles Police Department that was helped by the film and also helped by Russell Poole and is still ongoing.  I think that when the lawsuit gets to the point of discovery, a lot of documents that one hasn't been able to get a hold of will be available. That also sort of coincides with the new police chief, so I think it's much more open, I think.

ThaFormula.com - Now Nick I'm sure you heard about the L.A. Times article by Chuck Phillips?

Nick Broomfield - Yeah I did.  Well I met with him several times when we were doing the film.  I met with him on a couple of occasions and talked to him several times.  He was always identified to us right from the beginning as somebody who was very connected to Death Row, and connected to David Kenner who set up Death Row with Suge Knight and Harry-O.  He brokered that deal and Chuck was very in touch with those people.  He was always identified to me as being someone who was in the Death Row camp.

ThaFormula.com - Chuck Phillips?

Nick Broomfield - Yeah.

ThaFormula.com - You know the L.A. Times really made a big deal about this and most people that read it thought it was a lie. I really wanted to know what your thoughts were on the article?

Nick Broomfield - Well I wasn't that surprised I have to say when it came out. 'Cause you know it came out just before the release of my film and I think it came out with the expressed purpose of deflecting the film and also deflecting Randall Sullivan's' book.  I think that was the expressed purpose of it and it was very carefully designed so that all the main suspects were dead.  So it's kind of a closed case before you even opened it up.  It blamed Biggie and then it blamed that main suspect, uh the guy that was in the fight with Tupac.  Now we had interviewed his lawyer and family and so on, and I felt convinced that he was sort of a patsy.  Just someone who was set up by Death Row.  He was not particularly bright and people that I talked to all felt that he had been paid off by Death Row and  Suge Knight and that he was part of something else.  This was coming from Tupac's bodyguards, both of them said that, and the bodyguards who had been working for Death Row right from the beginning, they all said all the problems came out of Death Row.  None of the problems came out of Bad Boy or from Biggie.   Of all the people we spoke to, I never heard anything against Biggie from either Death Row or Bad Boy.

ThaFormula.com - So do you feel that you got all the answers you were looking for or do you feel that you didn't get what you hoped for?

Nick Broomfield - Well I think that with regards to the police officers who were involved in the shooting and the cover up that happened around the murder investigation which I'm sure happened.  There were obviously people within the police or within the District Attorney's office who know a lot but haven't come out.  So until there is a proper official investigation, that sort of level of information isn't gonna come out.

ThaFormula.com - So would you swear in front of a judge that the police did cover this up Nick?

Nick Broomfield - Yeah I would.  I definitely feel that.  That's come from a number of different people.  I feel that for a number of reasons.  One, Gene Deal (one of Biggie's bodyguards present at his murder) was never shown the proper composite photograph of the main suspect Harry Billups (an associate of former LAPD officer David Mack, who is also suspected to be involved in the murder), which I think is incredible.  I mean he was never shown that picture before we showed it to him, which I think is hard to believe that if there was a proper police investigation that he wouldn't be shown a photograph of the main suspect.  Also Rafael Perez was never questioned about it and that was David Mack's partner who was also supposed to be involved.

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