Actor Dave Franco will be taking on the role of Vanilla Ice. In an interview with Insider about his directorial debut, The Rental, Franco confirmed that he’d be playing the music icon.
“We have been in development for a while, but we are inching closer and closer to preproduction,” Franco said. The would-be Han Solo also added that if the project is done right, it will be in the vein of his brother James Franco’s The Disaster Artist, the biopic on The Room director and cult hero Tommy Wiseau. “With that movie, people expected us to make a broad comedy where we make fun of Tommy Wiseau, but the more real we played it, the funnier and [more] heartfelt it was. That’s the tone we want for this one as well.”
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Franco said that he’s even had conversations with the rapper, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, as a means to get his character and the overall tone of the film right. “Rob is such a sweet and intelligent guy and he’s been super helpful in the process of getting all the details correct and making us privy to information the public doesn’t know,” Franco proclaimed. “Just talking to him I can’t help but think about the rabbit holes I’m going to go down to get ready for the role.”
News of the biopic came out back in 2019 when a listing of a project titled To the Extreme was listed in the trade magazine Production Weekly, which even had a logline. “From a high school dropout selling cars in Dallas to having the first hip-hop single to top the Billboard charts with ‘Ice Ice Baby,’ a young Vanilla Ice struggles with stardom, extortion attempts, and selling out as he makes music history.” The film also shares the name with Vanilla Ice’s 1990 hit record.
Vanilla Ice, meanwhile, recently postponed a concert at the last minute in Austin, Texas, over the 4th of July weekend. The rapper/reality TV star had taken to Twitter after some serious outcry over the planned event. “Due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers in Austin, we’re gonna move the concert to a better date. We were hoping for better coronavirus numbers by July, but unfortunately, the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we’re going to stay home.”
