Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. (Associated Press.)
From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --
Rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will play a 1980s-era pimp in the Alaska-based thriller “The Frozen Ground,” producers say.
The movie, scheduled to begin filming Oct. 17 in Anchorage, is based on the true story of serial killer Robert Hansen. The so-called "Butcher Baker" preyed on Alaska prostitutes and strippers, killing more than 17 women here in the 1970s and ’80s.
Jackson will spend about two weeks in Alaska filming the role, said Randall Emmett, a partner in the production and financing company behind “The Frozen Ground.”
“The director thought that there was a great role for him and I gave him the script,” Emmett told the Daily News in a phone interview today.
The producer, who declined to describe the rapper’s character beyond saying it is a “substantial role,” is a business partner and friend of Jackson.
“He’s basically moved a lot of tour dates and a bunch of stuff that he has on his calendar to be committed and up in Alaska,” Emmett said.
The movie also stars Nicolas Cage as an Alaska State Trooper investigating the case. John Cusack plays Hansen while Vanessa Hudgens will portray an escaped victim.
The thriller -- budgeted at $27 million, according to Variety -- is one of the first productions to be filmed in Alaska under state tax incentive subsidies. Jackson is credited as an executive producer on the movie, which is being produced by Emmett/Furla films.
Best known for his 2003 major label debut “Get Rich or Die Trying,” Jackson is making a bid for a serious movie career.
He'll appear in the drama “All Things Fall Apart” –- about a football player stricken with cancer -- opening in January. Jackson and Emmett also are partners in a separate film production company called Cheetah Vision Films, which is scheduled to release at least four movies featuring the rapper in 2011 and 2012.
Up next: A straight-to-DVD action flick called “Set Up,” starring Jackson, Ryan Phillippe and Bruce Willis. It hits stores tomorrow. The trailer:
And check out Emmett & 50 goofing around in a clip shot for the producer’s 20th high school reunion:
