A feature film about ’90s rapper Vanilla Ice is in the works, Insider reports. Actor Dave Franco — perhaps better known as James Franco’s brother or Alison Brie’s husband — will star as the North Texas musician, who topped the charts with the 1990 single, “Ice Ice Baby.” The film takes its tentative title, To the Extreme, from Vanilla Ice’s best-known album, which sold 11 million copies.
With the film currently in development, Franco hopes it will turn out like one of his previous movies, 2017′s The Disaster Artist. Filmed with his brother, it was a movie about a movie: The Room, the infamous Tommy Wiseau title that’s often mocked as “the worst movie ever made.”
“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 — that’s the tone we want for this one as well,” Franco said.
For fans of unintentional comedy, it should be noted that Vanilla Ice has already played himself in the 1991 film, Cool As Ice.
Born in South Dallas, Robert Van Winkle went to high school in Carrollton and sold cars before he started rapping under the name Vanilla Ice. After opening for acts like N.W.A., Public Enemy and The D.O.C. in the ’80s, the young rapper hit his stride with “Ice Ice Baby,” which made him a star. Shot in Deep Ellum, the video for the single pictures the Dallas skyline.
This is the second time Vanilla Ice has made national headlines this summer. Weeks ago, as coronavirus cases surged across Texas, he was widely criticized for scheduling a live July 4 concert in Austin. The show wound up canceled with just 284 tickets reportedly sold.
