The newest installment in Ice Cube’s “Barbershop” series released to theaters earlier this week. “Barbershop: The Next Cut” began its run as the third film after the first “Barbershop” became a cult classic, April 15.

This time around, Calvin (Ice Cube) and the gang are in trouble as their beloved community has taken a turn for the worse. With increasing gang violence and the children in the area being exposed to some influences they shouldn’t be, Calvin and company decide it’s up to them turn things around.

The film stars Ice Cube and Anthony Anderson, both of whom sat down with the Campus Weekly and a few other staff to speak about their upcoming film.

The Ionian: The “Barbershop” series has grown and changed from movie to movie, do you think the current change is going to appeal to the same audience, or do you think it will bring in a new generation of younger people who are really interested in seeing how it plays out?

Ice Cube: I think both. I think it’s going to definitely bring in an audience that’s curious about the barbershop is about. I think we’ve got a movie that satisfies our core audience. The first people that saw “Barbershop” back in 2002, they’re still going to love this movie. I think we’ve got a movie that hopefully will appeal to a lot of demographics.

TCU: You guys are making the third in a pretty dominantly African-American series, so what are your thoughts on Hollywood right now and the film industry, especially in light of the Oscars?

Anthony Anderson: Why you gotta be all controversial, Hank?! You go to Texas Christian, I wasn’t cussin’ today, now you got me thinking about cussin’ you out! Now what was your question again?

IC: Hollywood, it is what is. I think you got a few gatekeepers but for the most part Hollywood is all about green and you know, what we’re fighting for is the opportunity to show that we can make money with these movies and people enjoy them and our audience is big enough to invest into. As far as the Oscars, to me that’s a different kind of club thing, it’s not really representing Hollywood at its starting point its more representing Hollywood at the end point. Whether we make strides in the Oscars is not as important to me as if we make strides in these studios to get movies made because, until you get one made, you can’t think about an Oscar so I think we gotta start at the beginning of the line and not at the end of the line.

AA: Cube made an interesting point earlier in his answer to your question, he said “gatekeepers” and that’s where it all begins, it begins with the gatekeepers who are controlling the purse string and are in control of what’s being made, how it’s being made, and who it’s being made with. The Oscars is just a byproduct of that. It’s up to the gatekeepers and us to, for lack of a better term, to convince them that is the movie that should make and these are the people they should make it with. They should allow us to tell our story because our stories are just as entertaining and valuable as the stories that are being told. So that’s where the change is made, in the beginning and with these gatekeepers who are controlling the money in order for us to make and to distribute these movies because they’re stories that people want to hear and that people want to be entertained by. If that makes any sense.

TCU: Definitely! Thank you guys and we’re really looking forward to “Barbershop”.

AA: Alright, go home and read your bible.

Campus Weekly: It’s been a long time since the last movie, over ten years I believe, and I was wondering what made you wants to come back and revisit the series?

IC: We had a good reason to make this movie. This movie is dealing with the situations that are happening in Chicago right now with the gun violence, you know, Calvin’s son is fourteen at this point so he’s at that crossroads, is he going to stay a good kid or start hanging out in the streets? So we felt like this is a great reason to do “Barbershop”. As far as ten years, we knew we had ten years of celebrities to clown and have fun with so we just felt like it’s right, the world is ready for another “Barbershop,” and the world needs another ”Barbershop.”

University of Toronto: Question for Ice Cube, you are no doubt one of the most influential hip-hop lyricists so how does your lyrical writing influence your screen writing and also the messages that are in the films you’re in?

IC: Well I think the way my lyric writing has
helped my screen writing is being able to tell a story, being able to take your
thoughts and put them on paper or being able to take your thoughts and project
them where persons can understand what you’re talking about. I think that
always helped in writing because it’s virtually the same thing, in a way, as
far as trying to get the ideas out of your head onto paper where people can
understand what you’re talking about. So I think it helps a lot. Matter of
fact, when I first started writing, it was Jon Singleton who directed me in “Boyz
n the Hood” and he looked at me one day and was like, “Yo, when are you going
to write a script?” So I was like “What’re you talking about? I don’t know how
to write a script.” And he was like, “Well, you can write those lyrics, write
those records, I know you can write a script if you put your mind to it.” The
best thing I’ve ever done in the industry, even over acting, is writing because
everything starts with the material. You know you can sit back and want people
to give you good stuff or you can just go write you some good stuff. You can
want somebody to put you in the movie or you can go write a movie that you know
you’re in already. So those to me are the keys to trying to solidify your
career in Hollywood, especially as a black actor.