50 Cent to star in Jim Sheridan film

Loosely based on 50's life story, the MTV/Paramount Pictures backed Locked And Loaded starts shooting in mid-March with Sopranos man Terry Winter taking care of screenplay duties.
Samuel L. Jackson had also been in the frame for a role, but pulled out when he heard who the star was.
"Hollywood people tend to think that because one is successful in one aspect of entertainment they can bring them into this particular world and make a success out of them," Jackson complains. "They ask people like me to be in a film with those people that they are kind of headlining and your name ends up behind them. A month or so ago, someone called me about the 50 Cent movie and I'm like: 'What are you calling me for?' I don't even need to read that because that's not something I want to do."
Jackson admits to being jealous that 50 Cent has got the nod from a director he greatly admires.
"How does he get to work with Jim Sheridan and I don't? What is it about 50 Cent that makes Jim Sheridan say: 'I'd really like to make a movie with him?'"