Nick Cannon Talks ‘Drumline’ Sequels And ‘Frat’-Like Filming, 15 Years Later

Nick Cannon has done it all, from acting to directing to producing to creating and writing, but within all of that, there will always be certain projects that stand out above the rest. One of those for Cannon is his 2002 film “Drumline.”

The college-set drama featured Cannon as Devon Miles, an incredible, but conceited, drummer who joined the drum section of his university’s marching band, teaching others the power of his drumming and learning humility himself along the way. Not to mention there was the fun and sweet romance between Miles and Zoe Saldana’s Laila, the dance captain, going on throughout the whole movie.

Today marks 15 years since this timeless film was released and International Business Times couldn’t help but ask Cannon all about the anniversary when we caught up with him at the Nickelodeon HALO Awards orange carpet last month.

While the star said that it’s “crazy” how fast time has gone, Cannon shared that he still remembers so much about filming the project. He specifically said he enjoyed “learning all of that stuff and actually feeling like [he] was in the band” when he was practicing for all of the drumming scenes.

“We all kind of bunked together and learned all of the cadences and really became a unit,” Cannon told IBT. “And it was just like being in a college frat. It was kind of dope.”

Cannon isn’t the only one who got to feel that way, though. Twelve years later a new film in the franchise, “Drumline: A New Beat,” aired on VH1, giving actress Alexandra Shipp the chance to feel what it was like to star in a “Drumline” movie.

Though the film had Cannon’s character in it briefly, he “wouldn’t even consider that a sequel” to the original. It aired on the network in 2014 as a TV movie, but it was actually supposed to be a TV series, according to Cannon.

“That was supposed to be a television show for VH1 that they made it seem like a movie,” he said. “It was gonna be ‘Drumline’ the TV show, but they aired it like it was a movie.”

It didn’t work out exactly like he thought it would, but he’s hopeful that “if they ever do make a movie, it will be the official sequel.”

Clearly Cannon is on board to make an actual “Drumline” sequel, 15 years later, but there’s still an important person the film would need to return. Would Saldana reprise her role as Laila?

“That would be awesome,” Cannon said. “We’ll see what happens, how it’ll all go down.”

Until then, rewatching the original a few more times isn’t a bad option.