André 3000 joins Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig in Netflix's White Noise adaptation
The Outkast member has been spotted around the filming site in Cleveland playing his "cool-ass flute"
Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of White Noise just got real noice. Outkast member André 3000 has joined the director’s newest film for Netflix. Tentatively titled Wheat Germ, the film also stars Adam Driver, Don Cheadle, Greta Gerwig, and Jodie Turner-Smith. The movie is based on the 1985 novel by Don DeLillo, which satirizes consumerism, mortality, and the mundanity of everyday life in the U.S. all wrapped in a postmodern bow. In the official logline from Netflix, Baumbach’s adaptation “dramatizes a contemporary American family’s attempt to deal with the mundane conflicts of day-to-day life while grappling with the larger philosophical issues of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world.”
Filming is currently underway in Cleveland, Ohio. While it’s unclear what his role in White Noise/Wheat Germ will be, he’s apparently been spotted walking around the Cleveland with “his cool-ass flute and chill vibes” and “cheerfully posing for selfies with fans.”
André 3000’s most recent film role was in the 2018 Claire Denis movie High Life. He also appeared in Jason Segel’s television series Dispatches From Elsewhere. His most well-known acting performance is as Jimi Hendrix in Jimi: All Is By My Side, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. In addition to Wheat Germ, André 3000 also has a role in in Kelly Reichardt’s film Showing Up. The legendary rapper has taken a break from music, only popping up as a featured artist on songs and working behind the scenes with musicians like Frank Ocean and Anderson .Paak. In 2019, he explained the inner turmoil that’s kept him from delving into any more solo work.
“I haven’t been making much music, man. My focus is not there. My confidence is not there. I tinker a lot. I’ll just go to a piano and sit my iPhone down and just record what I’m doing. Move my fingers around and whatever happens, but I haven’t been motivated to do a serious project,” André said on the podcast Broken Record. “I’d like to, but it’s just not coming. In my own self I’m trying to figure out where do I sit? I don’t even know what I am and maybe I’m nothing. Maybe I’m not supposed to be anything. Maybe my history is kind of handicapping in a way.”
White Noise/Wheat Germ is Baumbach’s third film for Netflix, following The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) starring Adam Sandler and the 2019 Oscar-winning drama Marriage Story. White Noise/Wheat Germ is set to release sometime next year.