The rise of America’s youngest Hustler, dealer, kingpin and informant. WHITE BOY RICK is based on a true story. The lead role in WHITE BOY RICK isn’t carried by Matthew McConaughey – but instead an unknown 15-Year-Old kid from Baltimore (Richie Merritt) with no previous acting experience. Making it even that much more special when you check out the trailer. The energy in the film and the way Richie Merritt plays off of McConaughey is superb.
“Put some clothes on would ya! We’re going for custard!” If I had a dollar for every time I heard that I would have $2.00 because I just watched the WHITE BOY RICK trailer twice and loved every second of it.
Set in 1980s Detroit at the height of the crack epidemic and the War on Drugs, WHITE BOY RICK is based on the moving true story of a blue-collar father and his teenage son, Rick Wershe Jr., who became an undercover police informant and later a drug dealer, before he was abandoned by his handlers and sentenced to life in prison.
The film is being produced by Studio 8, John Lesher and Darren Aronofsky and Scott Franklin’s Protozoa Pictures.
“This is something that none of us had done before. We searched all over the U.S., the UK and Australia,” Lesher told Deadline. “We auditioned both real kids, with no experience, and also young actors. It was very important to us that we found someone with the authenticity and similarity in his background (to Wershe).” He said Merritt grew up in similar circumstances in that he had the same socio-economic background and was a white kid in an urban environment. “We all just fell in love with him,” Lesher said. “He has a natural charisma.”
WHITE BOY RICK is in theaters this Fall.
