Production company Parts & Labor, the team of Lars Knudsen and Jack Vay Hoy who produced Mike Mills' Beginners, is teaming with Todd Hagopian at Ocean Size PIctures to produce Dirty White Boy, a movie about the late Wu Tang Klan rapper known as Ol' Dirty Bastard. Michael Kenneth Williams, famous for playing Omar Little on HBO's "The Wire" and most recently seen as Chalky White on "Boardwalk Empire," will be playing the controversial and eclectic hip-hop legend, born Russell Jones. It will be directed by first-time Joaquin Baca-Asay based on the screenplay by Brent Hoff.
The film is based on the true story of Jarred Weisfeld, a 22-year-old VH1 employee from the suburbs who becomes friends with the notorious star and it follows their misadventures right up until the time of Ol' Dirty Bastard's untimely death in 2004. Weisfeld and the rapper's mother Cherry Jones have given their full support and cooperation with Ocean Size Pictures.
Baca-Asay got his start as a Director of Photography working with Mike Mills on his debut Thumbsucker, Dylan Kid on Roger Dodger, James Gray on We Own the Night and on the classic police comedy Super Troopers with Broken Lizard. He transitioned from that into commercials and music videos, having directed the video for Jay Z's "99 Problems" for which he won an MTV Video Award.
In the press release announcing the project, Knudsen and Van Hoy say, "We both knew full well who Ol' Dirty Bastard was but this story completely floored us. As filmmakers, we knew that this would make a great film and that Jarred Weisfeld would offer an actor a complicated and compelling character to play. This felt to us like 'Risky Business' and '8 Mile,' with equal elements of darkness, humor, and humanity."
"We are thrilled to have the genius of Joaquin Baca-Asay behind the camera, directing this incredibly original screenplay by Brent Hoff. I know Michael K. Williams will leave audiences completely in awe as Russell Jones, the man behind the character ‘Ol' Dirty Bastard," Hagopian added.
