DON'T even think about questioning Fred Durst's tough-guy credibility just because he directed "The Longshots," a heartwarming, family-friendly movie being released Friday.
"Wait, wait. He is still a badass," grumbles Ice Cube, one of the stars of the film, as well as the producer who handpicked Durst to direct it. "We are badasses. We would kill or die for our families and that, to me, is what qualifies for being a badass."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 52 words Type of Material: Correction
"The Longshots": An article in Sunday's Calendar about "The Longshots" and its director, Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, said the film would open Friday. It is already in theaters. Also, the article referred to Apple's Logic software as a sound-effects program. It is a digital recording program that can accommodate sound effects.
Ten years ago, when Limp Bizkit frontman Durst and Ice Cube headlined 1998's ironically titled Family Values Tour, it would have been hard to imagine that the two rappers accustomed to notoriety could reunite to make a sincere family movie, but that's what they've done with "The Longshots," the story of bookish Jasmine (Keke Palmer), and her beer-drinking ne'er-do-well uncle, Curtis (Ice Cube), who find inner strength and purpose in her newfound talents as a high school football team quarterback.
Ice Cube has already developed a reputation for making successful movies dating to 1995's "Friday," a reputation enhanced by his Cube Vision production company. For Durst, though, directing a feature is still a new arena. "The Longshots" marks his sophomore effort; his first was "The Education of Charlie Banks," a coming-of-age story that played at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival to generally positive reviews and is slated for an October theatrical release. It was the sensitive "Charlie Banks" that persuaded Ice Cube to enlist Durst.
"Cube first said to me, 'I liked "Charlie Banks." I want that in my movie, man,' " Durst says. "He wanted to dip into his dramatic side."
Durst's voice retains a consistently mellow, almost sleepy tone as he speaks by phone from his Sherman Oaks home, having spent a hectic day finishing up the sound mix and tweaking some digital edits on "The Longshots." Just hearing Durst talk about post-production headaches like a real-life dramatic director might cause eyebrows to rise, inasmuch as he was once best known for wearing a baseball cap backward, feuding with other bands, appearing in pugnacious live shows (including the Woodstock 1999 festival at which Limp Bizkit was accused of inciting acts of violence), and sparking rumors of dalliances with the likes of Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. And then there was his music, a hard-edged blend of metal and rap, with hit songs like "Nookie" that won him far more fans in the frat house than among the art-house crowd.
