Announced in march… Michael K. Williams will play Ol' Dirty Bastard, but not in a biopic on the late rapper's life (one has long been rumored to be coming); rather really as a character in someone else's story.

The project is titled Dirty White Boy and will center on…

… the astounding rise of Jarred Weisfeld, a 22-year-old VH1-intern-turned-manager, and his misadventures with the legendary rapper leading up to the performer’s tragic death in 2004…

… says the press release.

So it's not ODB's story, but the white dude's; we've seen this kind of setup before.

Although EW adds this:

[The film] is based on the final years of ODB’s life and will focus on the strange personal and professional relationship between the rapper and Jarred Weisfeld, a 22-year-old VH1 production assistant who eventually became ODB's manager in the early 2000s. The film will chronicle the beleaguered rapper's well-known addictions. 

So maybe the film really will be about ODB, BUT told from the POV of the then 22-year old Weisfeld?

*Shrug*

The project is being produced by Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy – the producing team the Oscar-winning film Beginners.

To be directed by Joaquin Baca-Asay (his feature film debut), Dirty White Boy already has financing and is said to have the full support and co-operation of ODB's mother, Cherry Jones.

The last we wrote about the potential for an ODB film, RZA was the man behind the curtain; at the time, he said that ODB's estate was "kind of confused on what to do, and all the rights and all that shit, but it’s definitely been talked about. There’s also been talk about a Wu-Tang Clan movie. So we’ll see what life brings. In my opinion, I’d rather see an ODB pic than a Wu-Tang Clan pic, because Wu-Tang is still alive, and may be active for a few more years. But an ODB pic, just to really describe his life, would be good. Right now, there is a documentary that’s done that’s pretty good. It ain’t a knock out of the park, but it’s pretty good, it gives a nice piece of him. Then you start with that, and we can build more awareness about his life, and build more interest in people seeing a movie about it."

In the video clip below, MTV talks to Michael K. WIlliams (while on the set of They Die by Dawn) about the project, and he reveals a number of things worth knowing, like:

– He's doing a lot of research on ODB;

– Had the pleasure of meeting ODB's mother, and the talked for three hours, and she told him plenty about ODB that the public doesn't know.

– He's been talking to other people who knew ODB well and privately, and that he's gotten lots of insight into who he was as a man and, "dare I say it, scholar."

– The film will be a straight drama piece; "no buffoonery, for lack of a better word," Williams said.

– And the film will cover the last two years of ODB's life, from when he was released from prison, to the day he died.

Watch below: