Thandiwe Newton has discussed blown away by the late Tupac '2Pac' Shakur during their time working together on the 1997 movie Gridlock'd.
On the Monday (January 5) episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show, Newton reflected on their friendship and recalled how Shakur was a "beautiful soul," although she didn't know much about him upon meeting on set.
"I was from England and I didn't know much about rap or spoken word," the actor said around the three-minute mark in the video below. "And I arrived on set and I'd done my research and I'd seen him in movies. I was like, 'What a great actor this guy is.'"
Newton added that she would occasionally visit 2Pac's trailer and "tease him about his tattoos." "Because I just didn't have any clue and I'm like, 'What is that?' Apparently it was a crucifix and I'm like, It looks like a penis and balls," Newton joked about the late legend's ink. "I could tell at first he's like wanting to get really cross and then he just laughed and laughed and laughed."
Newton also witnessed 2Pac encounter serious moments, like having to cut his cousin's "allowance" after she had a drug relapse and contributing money to other relatives. "I would just look at him and be like, 'Geez, you've got so much responsibility, man. You're looking after a whole extended family,'" Newton said. "And that's just not what people thought of him as."
Newton added that Shakur was a "beautiful, caring poet," not just in his music but in normal conversation. The actor also recounted 2Pac telling her and Gridlock'd co-star Tim Roth about when he was shot in New York's Quad Studios in 1994.
"He told us about being shot at close range and how it felt...for an elevator door to open and there's a man standing there and he shoots at you five times
and you are hit, hit, hit, hit," Newton continued. "Tim and I just sort of sat barely
able to breathe because this is a young man talking about nearly dying."
"So when they said that it happened again," Newton tearfully said, referring to 2Pac being fatally shot two years later. "It was just really hard. 'Cause I heard him talk about how frightened he was. So I just knew that when it happened again, he must have been so frightened. And I loved him."
Other actors who've starred alongside the late artist have remembered him fondly, like Dennis Quaid, co-star of Gang Related.
The 2Pac murder trial is scheduled to begin this August, involving suspect Keefe D, who is claimed to have been in the vehicle that contained the person who allegedly shot 2Pac in September 1996.