Nick Cassavetes wants to get into the drug trade, at least on the silver screen. The directing vet (John Q, The Notebook, Alpha Dog) has signed on to direct a biopic about infamous 1980s drug dealer Rick Ross (no, not that Rick Ross, although that’s apparently what the rapper’s name is in reference to).
The film will focus on Ross’ time selling cocaine from Los Angeles and supposed Nicaraguan drug connection (he once bragged he made ‘$2 million in a day’). Ross’ drug distribution amassed the entire country, not unlike that of George Jung, the subject of Ted Demme’s 2001 film Blow, which Cassavetes co-wrote.
In 1996, Ross earned life in jail after trying to purchase 100 km of coke from a federal agent, a criminal act that sounds about as silly as Al Capone’s whole tax entanglement.
The film is expected to touch on the Iran-Contra debacle, which found some of President Ronald Reagan’s right-hand men behind bars for illegally selling weapons to Iran (remember that country?) and feeding money to the rebel Nicaraguan Contras.
In talking about the project, Cassavetes said the film could most closely be compared to Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic. The film still needs financing behind it, but the script is finished and the director hopes to get cameras rolling by the end of the year.
Do you know Rick Ross? Nick Cassavetes? What would a movie look like?