"Gold" actor Matthew McConaughey is in negotiations to star in the independent drug-deal drama "White Boy Rick." "71" helmer Yann Demange is directing from a Black List script by Logan Miller and Noah Miller.
According to Deadline, McConaughey will play Richard Wershe's father in "White Boy Rick." He is a blue-collar factory worker trying to keep his family together as the automotive industry collapses around him in Detroit.
"White Boy Rick" is based on the true story of Wershe Jr., the only successful white boy gangster/drug kingpin in an African American dominated 1980's Detroit ghetto, Variety reported. At the age of only 14, Wershe became an undercover informant for local and federal law enforcement agencies and then established himself as a major drug dealer.
In the plot of "White Boy Rick," at the age of 17, Wershe received a mandatory life sentence after being caught with 17 pounds of cocaine in 1987, eventually putting him into the cross-hairs of the feds in his dual life. He was put in jail for life, but ethical questions remain as how much the feds were involved in putting him deeper into his life of drugs.
Studio 8 bought the script of "White Boy Rick" last year. Steve Kloves wrote the current draft for the film off of Andy Weiss' draft (co-scribe on George Gallo's "Middle Men"), then Scott Silver's. John Lesher is producing through his LBI Entertainment with Studio 8, Darren Aronofsky, and Scott Franklin through their Protozoa Pictures company.
McConaughey won a Best Acting Oscar for "Dallas Buyers Club" and is being talked up again for a nomination this year for his role as a modern-day prosecutor in the comedy-drama "Gold." He just completed shooting "The Dark Tower" and is represented by CAA.
Producers are planning to shoot "White Boy Rick" in Michigan and Ohio in March and are currently casting the lead role of the kid now. The drama will go before cameras in the first quarter of next year.
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