Darrin O’Brien, aka Snow, joins Elvis Costello, Mary J. Blige and Fat Joe as a co-star in Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Films production, Prison Song, featuring Q-Tip in the leading role. Each artist will contribute a song to the soundtrack.
The Toronto-based reggae-pop star, best known for his 1993 debut single, ‘Informer,’ which was a No. 1 U.S. hit, and whose three albums have sold seven millions copies worldwide, starts shooting today (Oct. 28) in Philadelphia. The first half of the film was shot in New York, chronicling the main character Elijah’s (Q-Tip) early years.
Directed by Darnell Martin (I Like It Like That), Snow plays McIntyre, a prison guard described by Snow as a rebel, mad at the system, doing what needs to be done to support his family. ‘I’m a guard that used to work as a construction worker and now all the jobs are getting taken by inmates who are working for less money, so I’m working as a prison guard. I’m head of these inmates that go out and do construction,’ explains Snow, who turns 30 on Saturday.
Snow, who has a criminal record for assault and served time in jail, jokes that he will prepare for the role by ‘reminiscing.’ He recounts how he recently ran into his former prison guard from his 1989 incarceration at Toronto’s East Detention Centre. ‘I went, Oh, I should hang around with you for a couple of months, just to see how you guys act.’