Matthew McConaughey to star in drug drama 'White Boy Rick'

March 26 (UPI) -- Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Dern, Piper Laurie and Rory Cochrane are to star in White Boy Rick, a film based on true events and set in 1980s Detroit.

Principal photography has already begun on the Studio 8 drama, which is being produced by LBI Entertainment and Protozoa Pictures.

Director Yann Demange is shooting the movie primarily in Cleveland through early June. Sony Pictures is expected to release it on Jan. 12, 2018.

The story takes place "at the height of the crack epidemic and the War on Drugs, and tells the moving story of a blue-collar father and his teenage son, who became an undercover informant and later a drug dealer, before he was dropped by his handlers and sentenced to life in prison," a press release explained.

Newcomer Richie Merritt, 15, plays Ricky Wershe Jr., and Matthew McConaughey portrays his father.