Durst, Ice Cube play ball in sports drama

By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Limp Bizkit rocker Fred Durst is in negotiations to direct rapper Ice Cube in an inspirational sports drama based on a true story.

"Comeback" centers on a poor Illinois town that comes together behind the local Pop Warner football team and their unlikely quarterback, 11-year-old Jasmine Plummer, the first female player in Pop Warner history.

With the help of her uncle (to be played by Ice Cube), a former high school football star, Jasmine led her team, the Harvey Colts, to the Pop Warner Super Bowl and inspired the town of Wallace to reclaim some of its former glory.

Scribe Nick Santora read an article about the girl five years ago and was hooked.

"I knew there was a story in there how a girl can lift up a town," he said.

Then a writer/co-producer on "The Guardian," Santora tracked down the family and persuaded them to relinquish their film rights. His passion, however, was not shared with the rest of Hollywood. For the next five years, he pitched in vain, trying to set up the project.

"The lead was an 11-year-old African-American girl," he said. "It was a tough sell."

His belief in the story led him to write the script on spec. The script attracted Ice Cube, and within a week the package was sold. The project is set up at Dimension Films.

Santora, now a writer/executive producer on "Prison Break" as well as the co-creator of "Beauty and the Geek," is producing the movie with Ice Cube and his Cube Vision partner Matt Alvarez. Doug Atchison ("Akeelah and the Bee") has been brought in to rewrite the screenplay.

Durst directed the recent drama "The Education of Charlie Banks." Ice Cube most recently starred in the comedy sequel "Are We Done Yet?" and next appears in the crime comedy "First Sunday."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter