LaKeith Stanfield will star alongside Mark Wahlberg in Shane Black’s next film, “Play Dirty,” via THR.
This is great news as I can definitely see the talented Stanfield matching Black’s stylized humor. It’ll be interesting to see if Wahlberg can pull off the lead role.
Stanfield has built up a wonderful filmography as a character actor, his credits include “Atlanta,” “Sorry to Bother You,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Get Out” and “Knives Out.”
Wahlberg replaces original lead, and Black muse, Robert Downey Jr, who remains attached to the film as a producer, but what we really wanted was a Downey/Black “Kiss Kiss Bang” reunion. That’ll have to wait for another project.
“Play Dirty” will revolve around a thief called Parker (Wahlberg) who gets a shot at a major heist where he must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob and the world’s richest man. Stanfield is set to play Grofield, a con artist.
In fact, the Parker character was first introduced in the 1962 novel, “The Hunter,” and was featured in 23 other titles from author Donald E. Westlake. The character subsequently served as the basis for such films as “Parker”, “Payback” and 1973’s criminally underrated “The Outfit,” starring Robert DuVall.
Black is coming off 2018’s “The Predator,” a disaster plagued by studio interference, reshoots, delays and an entire third act rewritten in the middle of production. He deserves a comeback vehicle, and “Play Dirty” might be just the prescription for that.
Black started off his career as a 27-year-old whiz-kid screenwriter, writing the scripts for "Lethal Weapon," "The Last Boy Scout," "The Last Action Hero" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight." Black’s directing debut, 2005’s “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” has developed a cult following, ditto 2016’s “The Nice Guys.”