Dave Franco confirmed that he will be playing Vanilla Ice in an upcoming biopic that takes a similar spin on the “Artist of Disaster” in the rapper’s story “Ice Ice Baby.”
The movie “To the Extreme” was originally revealed via an airing notice in January 2019, but the biographical film has not yet started production. However, Franco first spoke about playing Vanilla Ice in an interview with Insider.
Franco compared the tone of “To the Extreme” to that of “The Disaster Artist”, a movie directed by his brother James Franco and starring the Franco brothers as the duet responsible for the beloved and terrible movie “The Room”.
“With [‘The Disaster Artist’], people expected us to do a broad comedy where we made fun of [‘The Room ‘director] Tommy Wiseau, but the more real we played it, the more fun and sincere it was, that’s the tone we want for this one too, “Franco told Insider.
Named after Rob’s debut album “Vanilla Ice” Van Winkle in 1990, the film is currently in pre-production due to the pandemic, and Franco says he regularly calls the rapper. “Rob is such a sweet and smart guy and he has been a great help in the process of getting all the right details and making us aware of information that the public doesn’t know,” Franco said. “Just talking to him I can’t help but think of the rabbit holes I’m going to go down to prepare for the role.”
In January 2019, the slogan on the casting list for “To the Extreme” read: “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 sales while making music history. “
Franco’s directorial debut, “The Rental”, arrives this weekend via video on demand.
.
