Have you ever thought about what it would be like to combine elements of The Wire and Entourage that would create a blue-top slingin', Mandy Moore bangin' juggernaut? No? Well, me neither. But apparently Entourage creator Doug Ellin has. Ellin calls the initial idea behind his new HBO project, Da Brick, "Entourage meets The Wire."
HBO has ordered a pilot episode of Da Brick, will be produced by Ellin and former boxing champion Mike Tyson, and directed by Spike Lee. "Set in current-day Newark, NJ, nicknamed 'brick city,' Da Brick is described as a contemporary exploration of what it means to be a young, black man in supposedly post-racial America and is loosely inspired by aspects of Tyson’s youth," Deadline reports.
Apparently the impetus of the project was Tyson's 2010 guest spot on Entourage. “That’s when Mike asked me, why don’t we do with my life what we did with Mark [Wahlberg's] life,” Elin told Nellie Andreeva. He goes on to say that Da Brick will be "an edgy story about an up-and-coming boxer and his crew that is much more dramatic than Entourage.”
No announcement yet regarding who will be playing the character inspired by Tyson. Casting is still under way.
It definitely sounds interesting -- and obviously Ellin knows how to put a successful show together. Very curious though to see how far this project can and will distance itself from Entourage though -- Ellin's involvement will obviously and fairly invite comparisons, and I hope they turn out to be positive.