T.I. is joining forces with legendary director Matty Rich for a new thriller film called Caller 100, The Hollywood Reporter reports. The forthcoming film marks Rich’s 25th year comeback into Hollywood since creating some iconic black films in the early ’90s.
Some of his stellar movies from that time period include 1991’s Straight Out Of Brooklyn followed by 1994’s The Inkwell, which featured Jada Pinkett Smith and Larenz Tate. Rich was only 19 years-old when he made his first film for a reported $450,000 by taking out money from credit cards and asking for donations. The film garnered him an Indie Spirit Award for best first feature and the special jury at Sundance.
At the time Straight Out Of Brooklyn came out in 1991, Rich was adamant about making a movie about his surroundings in Brooklyn. “I wasn’t interested in film because I loved film or some director,” he told The New York Times. “I was angry. I was upset that everybody around me got destroyed in the community. I told my mother that I wanted to do a movie. I wanted to make a black man and a black woman and the children and show the everyday struggle.”
After his run in Hollywood, Rich left for Paris where he began working on video games. He oversaw the creation of 187 Ride or Die, and then went to Los Angeles to create his own video games under his Matty Rich Games imprint.
Caller 100 is based on an overzealous female radio listener who makers her way into the radio dispatcher’s life. The obsession quickly takes a turn for the worst. T.I.’s role in the film has not yet been announced.