Machine Gun Kelly has had many roles in his career. MGK is a rapper, a nail lacquer aficionado and an actor. MGK has been in several films over the years such as Beyond the Lights, Bird Box, Project Power and The Dirt. But in his leading role as a man on a killing spree in the western The Last Son (out on streaming now), MGK decided to use his given name, Colson Baker, in the credits. He said in a recent profile for The Hollywood Reporter that he wanted to use his birth name for his acting career. Colson wanted to make the change out of respect for the art of acting. A few highlights:
But forget everything you knew, or thought you knew, about Machine Gun Kelly. Beginning with his name. He now wants to be known by his birth name: Colson Baker.
“I think it’s more just out of respect for the art,” Baker, 31, explains of the decision in a phone interview promoting his first starring role, in a violent period Western called The Last Son. “If you’re looking at a Basquiat piece and you have feelings about him personally,” he continues, “is that fair to the art because of how you feel about him personally?”
But Last Son is a major step in his acting career — a meaty role that requires him to play a cold-blooded killer with deep-seated abandonment issues. As such, it felt time to hang up the Machine Gun Kelly moniker and get back to basics.
As Baker explains it, “There is music and then there’s movies.” In the music realm, he created Kelly — what he describes as a “character” who in the early 2010s rose to prominence out of the Cleveland hip-hop scene for his rapid-fire rhymes (that’s what the “Machine Gun” refers to) and outlaw swagger.
“I don’t feel like being Inception in a person,” Baker says, referring to the 2010 Christopher Nolan film. “Like there’s a character inside of a character inside of a character inside of a character. I’d rather it just be me playing a character in one world and then me playing a character in another world.”
MGK is not the first performer to revert to their given name or change names for a career metamorphosis. Marky Mark became Mark Wahlberg, The Rock is now Dwayne Johnson, Prince became a symbol for a period (to avoid copyright issues) and god only knows how many times Puff Daddy changed his name. I also understand the need to change one’s name to fit the situation (I have changed my online moniker so many times, I don’t have the room to put them all here). Colson’s rapper stage name (MGK) comes with its own history that is not suitable for his new career trajectory. I know he will continue to use it for music, but I still get why he wants to separate his careers. Many rappers have paved the way for Colson by leveraging their music careers into very lucrative acting careers. So there is definitely a blueprint set out for him to study. What Colson is hoping to accomplish is doable if he has the right people around him to guide him. I am sure Megan Fox is helping him navigate Hollywood as well.
I have seen Colson in Bird Box and Beyond the Lights (he was such a douche in that film) and I actually think he has an acting future ahead of him. I hope that Colson doesn’t fall into be a one or two trick pony by only doing super emo and problematic characters. I personally love a good western so I am sure I will get around to watching Last Son. Anyways, good luck to Colson Baker. Just like the fans other performers who have changed their names, I am sure MGK’s fans will accept him as Colson and continue to support his career wherever he decides to take it.
The Last Son trailer:
photos via Instagram and credit: Avalon.red
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