Well, this is certainly an interesting development. Deadline has it that Ice Cube and director David O. Russell are in talks with New Line to make a film that has the potential to launch a franchise.
While I would say don’t put the cart before the horse, the film’s premise, though not original, does sound like a breath of fresh air for the rapper-turned-actor who has been doing mostly “safe” material of late with Are We There/Done Yet?, The Longshots and most recently had a supporting role in Lottery Ticket. Currently, he is involved with Oren Moverman’s (The Messenger) Rampart, a police drama centered on the widespread corruption in the anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division in the late 1990s.
In the film Cube will play a plainclothes detective who’s quick on the trigger that’s basically a throwback to ’70s revenge cinema like Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movies. A brainchild between Russell and New Line chief Toby Emmerich, they brought it to Cube and he apparently loved the idea. Plus, he’s been wanting to work with Russell again. Looks like the only ones who wouldn’t want to, even if they were desperate for work, are George Clooney and Lily Tomlin.
With Russell’s career amping up, he may not be available to direct but will still be co-writing the screenplay. Russell’s next film, The Fighter, opens December 10 and stars Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. Other projects that Russell has on tap are Old St. Louis and a big-screen adaptation of the PlayStation 3 videogame Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.
