by
After years of speculation and talk about a movie on convicted drug dealer, Richard "White Boy Rick" Wershe, there's some serious movement.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Universal Studios has secured the rights to a true-crime story about Wershe to produce a movie. "Oblivion" director Joseph Kosinski would direct.
The rights are for the article written by journalist Evan Hughes, "The Trials of White Boy Rick," a convicted drug trafficker who became a local household name in the the 1980s after he was busted for cocaine trafficking as a teenager, the trade publication reported.
The story was written for The Atavist, a publisher of original digital nonfiction, on Sept. 29, the Hollywood Reporter reports. The detailed, well written story, reads like a novel.
"I'm thrilled that Universal wants to adapt my Atavist story about Rick Wershe into a movie," Hughes told Deadline Detroit. "I spent more than a year on the reporting and research. I hope that this news will attract more readers and, more important, bring some attention to Rick Wershe and the story behind his ongoing incarceration."
Wershe was originally sentenced to life in prison without parole, and that was later changed to a sentence with the possibility of parole. Wershe has been in prison for more than 26 years.
He's been fighting for years to get paroled, and he has some former FBI agents and other ex-law enforcement types advocating his release.
The Hollywood reporter writes:
Senior vp of production Erik Baiers and director of development Sara Scott will oversee the project for Universal while Michael Clear will oversee production on behalf of Bluegrass. Atavist's Ratliff will executive produce.
Hughes wrote the 2011 book Literary Brooklyn, and has written for The New Republic, New York and The New York Times, among others.
White Boy Rick will be an interesting step in a new direction for Kosinski, who is known for his sci-fi films Tron: Legacy and Tom Cruise-starrer Oblivion.
