DETROIT – By now, most people know the story of Rick Wershe, the longest-serving nonviolent juvenile offender in Michigan history. The Local 4 Defenders have extensively chronicled Wershe's long fight to get out of prison.
Hollywood is taking a crack at telling Wershe's story, and Matthew McConaughey has signed on to play a major role in the movie.
The man known as "White Boy" Rick talked with Kevin Dietz Wednesday, hoping Hollywood will help set him free.
In Hollywood, they say a big-budget movie doesn't have the green light until a major star is attached. With McConaughey, the story of Detroit's "White Boy" Rick Wershe has one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
The story went from a movie to a major motion picture with the signing of the Oscar-winning actor, who starred in "A Time to Kill," "The Lincoln Lawyer," "We Are Marshall," "Magic Mike" and "The Wolf of Wall Street."
"He's just an outstanding actor," Wershe said. "He's great. I couldn't have asked for a better person to be the lead in the movie about me, and, you know, to play my father.
"Now that you have someone like him -- a major Hollywood star -- I think people will take more time and really look into the facts and do some fact-finding of their own."
Wershe became a police informant at the age of 14 on Detroit's east side. The feds sent the minor to Las Vegas for the Tommy Hearns-Marvin Hagler fight to eavesdrop on some of the biggest dope dealers in Detroit. After he was shot, they stopped paying the teenager for information, and he turned to selling drugs.
He was busted at 17 years old with 17 pounds of cocaine. He was sent to prison, and inside he worked with police again, helping them bust then-Mayor Coleman Young's niece and brother-in-law, along with nearly a dozen dirty cops.
Most cooperating drug dealers busted as minors would spend less than a dozen years behind bars. Wershe will have served 29 years next month.
"The truth is, I was never what I was made out to be, and I think this movie will show that," Wershe said. "The facts will show that, and I think it will be a great project, and I think it will be helpful in accomplishing what I want to accomplish."
"I don't know if it will necessarily get me over the hump," Wershe said. "I think the only one that can do that is the parole board or the courts. But I think it will definitely show my case in a different light and show the true story, and that's what everyone hasn't seen."
McConaughey isn't the only big name attached to the movie. Yann Demange is one of the hottest directors in town following his critically acclaimed movie "'71." Producer John Lesher brought us the Oscar-winning best picture "Birdman." Scott Franklin and Darren Aronofsky produced "Black Swan."
Writers Logan and Noah Miller wrote "Sweetwater." Scott Silver wrote the Eminem movie "8 Mile." Andrew Weiss created the television show "Punk'd." Steve Kloves is the wildly successful writer of the Harry Potter movies.
The team is all working for Studio 8 boss Jeff Robinov, who will distribute the movie through Sony.
Wershe hopes his ongoing incarceration will come to an end as the world sees his story play out on the big screen.
"I mean, anyone who reads the true story, as you know, is outraged by it," Wershe said. "I mean, I've basically been kept in prison for 29 years on lies and fabrications."
"I mean, there's so many good people behind this cause, and all of them are outraged," Wershe said. "The whole team who's making the movie is outraged that I'm still in prison."
Wershe needs the governor, the parole board or the federal court system to free him. None have taken any proactive action, but now the whole country will see the story of a 14-year-old Detroit boy used by law enforcement and left behind bars. In all likelihood, Wershe will still be locked up when the movie premiers.
Shooting for the movie will begin in Detroit and move to Cleveland, where the tax incentives are much better. They hope to roll cameras in March.
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