For most of its early stages, it seemed like the biopic "Dirty White Boy" could do no wrong. First, Michael K. Williams (aka Omar from HBO's "The Wire") was cast to play the late rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard (or ODB) in the film, and then it looked like the actual members of the Wu-Tang Clan were going to appear as themselves in the movie. While this blew our collective minds, the fact that the Wu-Tang would play themselves in a movie more or less about themselves alongside Williams had a suspicious element of being too good to be true. When GZA, ODB's cousin and fellow founding member of the Wu-Tang, announced he wasn't going to appear in the film, those suspicions were realized.
GZA won't be the only Wu-Tang member to step away from the biopic. Count Raekwon out too. Pitchfork got word from Raekwon's representatives that he too will not appear in the film; no reason was given for Raekwon's absence.
"Dirty White Boy" will tell the rapper's story through the eyes of Jarred Weisfeld, a VH1 intern who eventually became ODB’s manager until his tragic death in 2004. The film will be the directorial debut for cinematographer Joaquín Baca-Asay, while Brent Hoff wrote the original screenplay that's being compared to "Risky Business" and "8 Mile."
In other decision-reversing news, it looks like a sequel to "MacGruber" is back on again. Sort of. The confusion began when director Jorma Taccone revealed that he and co-writers John Solomon and Will Forte were developing a sequel to the 2010 comedy, which was quickly debunked by Forte himself. Now, it looks like Forte has had a change of heart, admitting to Crave Online that a script for "MacGruber 2" is in the works.
"I wasn’t prepared to answer anything about 'Macgruber 2' when I was talking to everybody on Saturday," Forte said of his previous comment that the sequel was off the table. "I guess the best way to put it is the probability of us writing a 'Macgruber 2' script in the next six months is 100%. The probability of somebody giving us money to make that script is somewhat less than 100%. We would do it if someone were to let us do it."
What Forte may be trying to say is that fans of the movie shouldn't get their hopes up just because a script will be written. As the former "SNL" actor points out: "Like people who are into sports will go out and play pickup basketball, comedy nerds will go write scripts." Forte says that he, Taccone and Solomon "will definitely write a 'MacGruber 2' if only just to have fun" and have already written down sequel ideas and "a couple of scenes." But that still isn't any reason for fans to feel confident. At least, not yet.
"We’re definitely going to write it," said Forte. "It’s just a matter of if anybody would ever let us make it."
There's the rub.
Clearly, we hope Forte finds someone who's interested. We haven't been shy about our love for "MacGruber," putting it in our list of the most underrated films of 2010, and, even this writer will concede, it's at least the funniest movie where a guy sticks a celery stalk in his butt crack as a diversionary technique. Even Edgar Wright admitted that "MacGruber" is "so fucking stupid, yet I cannot deny I watched it every night on the 'Scott Pilgrim' press tour in every hotel I slept in." Hopefully, that's enough of an endorsement for someone to spend $10 or $15 million on a sequel.
