Dave Franco is playing Vanilla Ice in an upcoming biopic. The actor revealed the news in a new profile with Insider, saying that the movie will be a bit like his brother James Franco's Tommy Wiseau biopic The Disaster Artist. "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 heartfelt it was," Franco says. "That's the tone we want for this one as well."
The Vanilla Ice project was first announced early last year through the trade publication Production Weekly, with the following 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."
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it's unclear when the movie will actually start filming. "We have been in development for a while but we are inching closer and closer to preproduction," Franco says. And he's already had a few calls with Vanilla Ice himself, real name Rob Van Winkle, to prepare for the role.
"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 says. "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."
