Based on true events, WHITE BOY RICK is set in 1980s Detroit at the height of the crack epidemic and the war on drugs, in a city rife with corruption on every level.
WHITE BOY RICK is a tarnished American Dream, an improbable tale of fathers and sons, friends and family, a shifting landscape of loyalty and betrayal, where everything has a cost, including love and the ultimate price may be survival. The film chronicles three critical years in the life of Rick Wershe Jr. as he rises from baby-faced teen to infamous drug dealer before ultimately becoming a pawn to some of Detroit’s most powerful and corrupt politicians.
WHITE BOY RICK stars Oscar® winner Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar) as Rick’s father, Richard Wershe Sr., and introduces newcomer Richie Merritt as Rick Wershe Jr. It also features Oscar® nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh (Hateful Eight) and Rory Cochrane (Black Mass) as the FBI agents who begin working with Rick as a confidential informant, and Brian Tyree Henry (FX’s Atlanta) as narcotics Detective Jackson; two-time Oscar® nominee Bruce Dern (Nebraska, The Hateful Eight) as Rick’s grandfather, Roman “Ray” Wershe; three-time Oscar® nominee Piper Laurie (Carrie, Children of a Lesser God) as Rick’s grandmother, Verna Wershe; BAFTA nominee Bel Powley (Diary of a Teenage Girl) as Rick’s sister, Dawn; and Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan, Deadpool 2) as Art Derrick among others.
The film is directed by Yann Demange (‘71) and written by Andy Weiss and Logan & Noah Miller.