Drug-dealing Jews inspire comic drama

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Call it "Meshuggah Full of Grace."

A spate of 1990s-era crimes where Hasidic Jews were recruited as mules to smuggle drugs into the U.S. has inspired an indie comic drama that is slated to begin next spring in New York.

"Holy Rollers" follows an impressionable youth (Jesse Eisenberg) from an Orthodox Brooklyn community. He's lured into becoming an Ecstasy dealer by a friend (Justin Bartha) with ties to an Israeli drug cartel. Newcomer Danny Abeckaser is set to play the owner of a club where they do their decidedly unkosher business.

Set in 1999, the film marks the feature debut of Kevin Asch who directs from a screenplay by Antonio Macia.

Eisenberg ("The Squid and the Whale") will soon appear in Greg Mottola's "Adventureland." Bartha ("Failure to Launch") appears in "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter