After years of providing inspiration to the highest corridors of power as The Wire’s Omar, Michael K. Williams will further his good deeds by playing another man who was always for the children, Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Williams has signed on to play Russell Tyrone Jones—also known by approximately a dozen nicknames, ranging from Dirt McGirt to Big Baby Jesus to Huge Jane Austen Fan, only one of which we made up—taking on the role of the troubled, mischievous, frequently incarcerated member of the Wu-Tang Clan in the forthcoming biopic Dirty White Boy. And yes, as the title suggests, the film will use as its window into Ol’ Dirty’s world a young, presumably more broadly marketable white boy—namely ODB’s former manager Jarred Weisfeld, the 22-year-old go-getter VH1 intern who got caught up with the rapper after visiting him in prison to pitch him a reality show.
The film will be scripted by Brent Hoff and helmed by Joaquin Baca-Asay (making his directorial debut), and will focus on Dirty and Weisfeld’s various “misadventures” together until ODB’s death in 2004, with a tone that producers describe as “like Risky Business and 8 Mile”—because saying “My Favorite Year on crack” wouldn’t work, apparently, as not as many people remember that movie. Anyway, dubious loglines aside, it’s obviously an exciting proposition for fans of Williams and/or the Wu-Tang, although it’s not yet known whether the latter will participate in any capacity (though certainly having Omar in it can’t hurt). Luckily there’s still plenty of crazy ODB shit to get into even without touching the music.