Interesting…

Spike Lee is reportedly going to produce the feature film directorial debut of the son of hedge fund manager Ray Dalio.

Ray Dialo runs the $80 billion Bridgewater Hedge Fund, and is said to be a heavy contributor to charities created by Jennifer Lopez and David Lynch.

His son, Paul Dalio is the one with the filmmaking aspirations; already a TV producer (and a graduate of NYU's MFA program like Spike Lee), Paul will make his feature film debut with a film called Mania Days, which centers on "a manic depressive rapper who gets involved with a manic depressive poet in a passionate affair that results in a pregnancy."

Sounds like some heavy ish, yo!

Spike's involvement will reportedly be "on a hands-on basis," as he oversees the entire project. So this should be a first; Spike is rarely hands-on as a producer on films that aren't his own.

I should note that Dalio also is a graduate of NYU's MFA program like Spike.

No word on casting yet; also, no word on whether this manic depressive rapper (or the manic depressive poet he gets involved with) will be black.

Of course, I'm guessing financing for Mania Days will come from pappa Dalio's bank account. And by the way, Mamma Dalio is rich too; she’s a direct descendant of the Vanderbilt-Whitney families.

This might also be a way in for Spike to get some money to finance his next (or some future) project. There's gold in them thar Dalio hills… get it Spike; geeeet it! 🙂

I wish I had that type of connect with an $80 billion hedge fund manager and Vanderbilt descendant.