David O’Russell certainly seems to be a busy man, coming and going from all manner of projects in the last few months. The latest to appear is a currently untitled detective drama, which could be the start of a new franchise.
Deadline reports Ice Cube is already lined up to play ‘a plainclothes detective who’s quick on the trigger in an R-rated raw drama that’s thematically a throwback to those 70s revenge films like the Harry Callahan movies that starred Clint Eastwood’. The idea for the movie apparently came from O’Russell and New Line chief Toby Emmerich, who took the idea to Ice Cube. Quite why the former rapper was their first choice is anyone’s guess, but O’Russell and Cube did work together on Three Kings, so perhaps the director feels he’s got what it takes.
However don’t book your ticket just yet, as it sounds like things are in the very early stages, with the story beats still being worked out, and no script started yet. O’Russell is likely to be busy promoting The Fighter and directing Old St. Louis for the next few months, so the idea is to bring in someone else to write the cop flick, with the director rehashing the script later on.