Richard Wershe Jr. as a teen and an adult.
Next year's "White Boy Rick" movie, starring Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Dern and Piper Laurie, tested well before focus group audiences and will be released later than originally planned.
The original release was set for this Jan. 26. Now, it's pushed to Aug. 17.
Anthony D'Alessandro of Deadline Hollywood reports:
Deadline heard via non-studio sources that White Boy Rick recently tested quite high in the 90s, with director Yann Demange given the go-ahead to add extra scenes. We hear the movie is quite a thrill ride.
The movie is based on the life of Richard Wershe Jr., aka "White Boy Rick," who was imprisoned for life as a teen in the late 1980s after being convicted in Detroit Recorders Court for cocaine trafficking. He was paroled earlier this year, but was then sent to Florida to serve out an unrelated sentence for being part of a car theft ring while he was in prison there.
The film, directed by Yann Demange, is shot in Detroit, Cleveland, Las Vegas and Miami. Five writers are credited -- usually not an encouraging sign.
Matthew McConaughey, as Richard Wershe Sr., in a scene from the film.
Wershe, now 48, helped the FBI with a sting that netted crooked Detroit cops and then-Mayor Coleman A. Young's common-law brother-in-law, Willie Volsan.
The Florida Department of Corrections' website says his current release date is March 25, 2021. Next to the date is the notation: "Release Date subject to change pending gain time award, gain time forfeiture, or review."
