EXCLUSIVE: Matthew McConaughey is in negotiations to star in White Boy Rick for director Yann Demange, who is readying the drama to go before cameras in the first quarter of next year.
White Boy Rick is about Richard Wershe Jr., who in the mid-1980s at the age of only 14 became an undercover informant for local and federal law enforcement agencies and then established himself as a major drug dealer. The dual life he led eventually put him into the cross-hairs of the feds when he was found with 17 pounds of cocaine (at only 17 years of age). 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.
McConaughey will play Wershe’s father, a blue-collar factory worker trying to keep his family together as the automotive industry collapses around him in Detroit. The producers are currently casting the lead role of the kid now.
Studio 8 acquired the spec script 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. The pic is planning to shoot in Michigan and Ohio in March.
Watch on Deadline
John Lesher is producing as is LBI Entertainment, where Lesher is now based and which has a first-look deal with Studio 8. Also producing are Studio 8, Darren Aronofsky and Protozoa Pictures’ Scott Franklin.
McConaughey, who just completed shooting The Dark Tower, won a Best Actior Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club and is being talked up again for a nomination this year for his role in Gold. He is repped by CAA.
Demange, who directed ’71, is repped by CAA and Independent Talent Group.
Congrats Andy Weiss!!
Sorry – no one FORCES you to become a major drug dealer…that’s a choice – let’s stop blaming other people for their own choices – when did personal responsibility become anathema in America?
Rick was never a “major drug dealer”. He was small time compared to the actual major players back 30 years ago and he only dealt on his own for about 11 months. Rick takes FULL responsibility for the mistakes he made as a kid. He wished he could go back and chance the past but he can’t, none of us can. He’s a good man. Not the young dumb kid he was 3 decades ago. I’ve known him since we were both toddlers. He should have gotten his 2nd chance long ago. Please check out the FreeRickWersheJr page on FB if you want to learn more of the truth about Rick and his case. Thanks.
When you’re 14 years old and the FBI puts you up to it?
They need to cast Art Parkinson (aka Rickon Stark) as Rick. He also did a fabulous job voicing Kubo and he looks enough like McConaughey to play his son.
Hopefully news of the film will bring more attention to my friend Rick Wershe’s plight. He’s needlessly spent years in prison already. He’s now 29 years into a life sentence for a single non-violent drug offense he was arrested for as a juvenile (17). Free Rick Wershe!!
Rick Wershe was a snitch. Don’t fell sorry for him. There’s a lot of blacks serving life who didn’t snitch. This guy can rot in prison. Look forward for the movie.
Who did Rick “snitch” on? Do you actually know? “Blacks” So “blacks” get out but because Rick is “white” he should “rot in prison”? The only think your comment achieved (besides exposing your own ignorance) is that it shows some of the bigotry Rick has faced the last 30 years.