This is an interesting pairing. Deadline reports that Tommy Lee Jones and Ice Cube are set to star in Outside Man, a new film from Brian Helgeland, best known as the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind L.A. Confidential.
The film “follows a former Chicago mob enforcer (Cube), who, after being released from prison, is a man intent on changing his life. Disappearing into rural Texas, he finds work under a skilled furniture craftsman and retired Texas Ranger Gus Wanamaker (Jones). As Ruben and Gus form an unlikely friendship, that bond is jeopardized when both men’s pasts threaten to catch up with them.“
Helgeland will write and direct Outside Man, with Jillian Share and Jen Gorton producing through Teton Ridge Entertainment and Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz producing through their Cube Vision company. Bill Gerber is also on board to produce. Jones has worked with Helgeland before, having starred in Finestkind, a crime thriller about a crew of fishermen who tread dangerous waters as their debts pile up.
It was announced last month that Jones had joined the cast of FX’s The Lowdown for season 2. Created by Sterlin Harjo, The Lowdown follows the “gritty exploits of citizen journalist Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke), a self-proclaimed Tulsa ‘truthstorian’ whose obsession with the truth is always getting him into trouble. While Lee’s no idealist, he’s fiercely committed to exposing corruption and unearthing the city’s hidden rot, even when it puts him at risk.”
As for Ice Cube, he was most recently seen in the Anaconda meta-reboot and the screenlife War of the Worlds remake, which might be one of the worst movies ever made.
He’s also in talks to join Kevin Hart in Ride Along 3. The sequel is in early development at Universal. Director Tim Story and producer Will Packer are in early discussions to return, along with Cube and Hart. A third installment was in the works shortly after the release of the sequel, but it never got off the ground. The creative team always wanted to get back together, but they just wouldn’t agree on an idea. Now, a decade later, screenwriter Daniel Gold (Workin’ Moms) has come up with a concept they’re all excited by.