Dave Franco to Play Vanilla Ice in New Biopic

Last year popped up online that actor Dave Franco would be taking on the role of none other than Vanilla Ice for an upcoming biopic on the rapper. Titled To the Extreme, named for Ice's 1990 album, Franco has since confirmed his involvement in the project in an interview, revealing that they're nearing a start of pre-production but that things are mostly on hold for the time being due to the coronavirus. Franco revealed that with the film he wants to make something in line with his brother's movie The Disaster Artist, which brought a funny but dramatized version of the making of the infamous bad movie The Room.

"With that movie, people expected us to make a broad comedy where we make fun of Tommy Wiseau," Franco said in an interview with Insider while discussing To The Extreme. "But the more real we played it, the funnier and heartfelt it was — that's the tone we want for this one as well."

Franco also revealed that he's been in contact with Ice, real name Rob Van Winkle, and talked with him during quarantine about the project. "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 added. "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."

Chris Goodwin and Phillip Van co-wrote the script for the film which was previously featured on The Black List, an annual collection of the most liked screenplays in Hollywood that have not been produced. Almost one third of the featured scripts ended up being produced though with major awards contenders like Argo, The King's Speech, Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, Spotlight, Manchester by the Sea, and Jojo Rabbit were previously featured on the list.

The logline for the script reads: "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."

Vanilla Ice made a splash on pop culture after his 1990 album, for which the film is named, which featured hit singles like "Ice Ice Baby" and his cover of "Play That Funky Music." Ice fell from the public eye but has remained a central figure in nostalgia for the decade as he was without question a trademark of the 1990s in terms of fashion, music, and flair. He's previously played himself in a number of films, most recently Netflix's The Wrong Missy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II where he sang the earworm "Ninja Rap."

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