Berg
Peter Berg is gearing up to produce and direct "Hip-Hop Cops" for Radar Pictures.
Written by Eric Eason ("Manito"), pic is set inside the highly secretive division of the New York Police Dept. that exclusively investigates hip-hop and rap-related crime. Story is described as a "Training Day"-meets-MTV thriller.
Braxton Pope will produce with Berg.
Producing for Radar are company founder Ted Field, exec VP Joe Rosenberg and creative exec Sean Gorman.
Doing his homework
A Gotham native, Eason has been on his home turf for the last 10 weeks, conducting research for the film. Because the NYPD denies the existence of any rap-related task force, Eason has had to work more as an investigative journalist than a screenwriter.
"Everybody involved is off the record, because if they reveal themselves, they'll put themselves in the position of possibly losing their jobs," he said.
"It definitely encompasses the hip-hop world, but it gets into the NYPD and City Hall," Eason said. "It harkens back to a '70s cop film or a 'French Connection.' It looks at all different strata."
Youth culture
Radar's Gorman added that hip-hop in general is the lingua franca of world youth: "In terms of being current, this is the thing going on."
However, the underworld of hip-hop is less on the radar, so to speak, and Gorman said the movie would attempt to bring that to light. "It's never been looked at internally."
Berg recently wrapped "Friday Night Lights," based on the book by H.G. Bissinger, which he scripted and directed, and which Brian Grazer is producing. Berg is also teamed with Grazer on U's upcoming "HRT," based on the FBI's Hostage Rescue Unit.
Eason wrote and directed "Manito," the 2002 Sundance Film Festival favorite about the drug culture in Gotham's Washington Heights. Current projects include "Wannabe," at Intermedia, with Jake Gyllenhaal attached to star. He's also directing "The Little Thief," based on a short by French director Eric Zonca.
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