A young teen from Baltimore has a daunting task ahead of him after being cast as the lead in Studio 8’s upcoming White Boy Rick. 15-year-old Richie Merritt is this presumably lucky kid. His co-stars are Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club), Bruce Dern (Nebraska), and Piper Laurie (Carrie).

Yann Demange (’71) is set to direct, while brothers Logan and Noah Miller (Sweetwater) are to write the screenplay. Each of these filmmakers are relatively green when it comes to features, which seems to make Merritt just that much more strange of a choice. However, producer John Leshner (Black Mass) backs the decision one hundred percent. After searching for talent in the U.S., U.K., and Australia he felt like they found their boy after auditioning Merritt. Having a similar background to the story’s character seems to be what put him head and shoulders above the competition.

White Boy Rick follows a teen named Richard Wershe Jr. (Merritt) who’s made to be an undercover informant for the police in the 80’s. Wershe Jr. subsequently uses his position as an informant to help him build his own drug-trafficking empire under the noses of the law-enforcement officers who utilize him.

White Boy Rick is scheduled to be released on January 12^th, 2018.