The 'If Beale Street Could Talk' actor confirms he'll portray the rapper in 'To the Extreme', which is 'inching closer and closer to preproduction' after being first reported in 2019.
- July 23, 2020
AceShowbiz - Dave Franco may need to start mastering how to spit some fiery bars for his next movie. The 35-year-old actor has confirmed that he's on board to play Vanilla Ice in a biopic about the 1990s rapper titled "To the Extreme".
The project was first reported in 2019, but it has yet to start production. Now in an interview with The Insider, Franco has given an update on the movie. Though it currently still has no start date, the writer/director assured, "We have been in development for a while but we are inching closer and closer to preproduction."
He also revealed his hope to make "To the Extreme" in the vein of "The Disaster Artist", in which he starred in alongside his brother James Franco who also directed it. The 2017 movie is a biographical drama film about Tommy Wiseau and the making of disastrous film "The Room".
"With that movie, people expected us to make a broad comedy where we make fun of Tommy Wiseau, but the more real we played it, the funnier and heartfelt it was - that's the tone we want for this one as well," he shared.
Due to to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Franco said he is developing the biopic with Ice, while he remains quarantined at home. The rapper, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, is teaming up with Chris Goodwin to write the script, but no director is attached to the project as of now.
"Rob is such a sweet and intelligent guy and he’s been super helpful in the process of getting all the details correct and making us privy to information the public doesn't know," Franco said of the rapper. "Just talking to him I can't help but think about the rabbit holes I'm going to go down to get ready for the role."
"To the Extreme" will center on the rise of the South Florida rapper from a high school dropout selling cars in Dallas to having the first hip-hop single to top the Billboard charts with "Ice Ice Baby". A young Vanilla Ice struggles with stardom, extortion attempts and selling out as he makes music history.
"To the Extreme" is also the title of Ice's 1990 album that included his hit single "Ice Ice Baby". The Dallas-born star also went on to become an international sensation with a cover of "Play That Funky Music".
