rewrite this title ‘Novocaine’s Dan Berk & Robert Olsen To Direct Ludacris In ‘Limited Edition’ Actioner For Universal & 87North

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures and 87North are developing Limited Edition, an action film to star the Fast & Furious franchise’s Ludacris which has locked in Novocaine helmers Dan Berk and Robert Olsen to write and direct.

Plot details are being kept under wraps. But Kelly McCormick and David Leitch will produce through 87North’s first-look deal with Universal. Also producing and overseeing the project for 87North is Braden Aftergood, who as we exclusively reported in December, just recently joined the company after co-founding Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa.

Executive Vice President of Production Development Jay Polidoro and Director of Development Tony Ducret will oversee Limited Edition for the studio.

A multi-platinum, Grammy-winning rapper and actor, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges is widely recognized for his role as Tej, a core member of Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) crew, in Universal’s Fast & Furious franchise, one of the most successful action film series in history. His other film credits include the Oscar-winning Crash, the Oscar-nominated Hustle & Flow, and the 2023 holiday comedy Dashing Through the Snow. In a career spanning nearly three decades, Ludacris has sold more than 20 million albums, earned three Grammys, and secured five No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. His catalog includes four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, 56 Hot 100-charting singles, and 18 Top 10 records. He is repped by UTA, managers Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon of Ebony Son Entertainment, and attorney Darrell Miller of Fox Rothschild.

Berk and Olsen are coming off of Novocaine, the inventive Jack Quaid-led action comedy centered on a man incapable of feeling pain, which garnered critical acclaim, opening at #1 at the box office in March before moving on to become a chart-topping streaming title. Prior to that, the pair helmed Significant Other, a sci-fi thriller for Paramount starring Maika Monroe and Jake Lacy. Additionally, they wrote and directed Villains, a horror comedy starring Monroe, Bill Skarsgård, Jeffery Donovan, and Kyra Sedgwick, which premiered to critical acclaim at SXSW in 2019. The duo is repped by UTA, Kaplan Perrone, and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz.

Coming off of the films Love Hurts and Nobody 2, 87North’s upcoming slate also includes projects like the Leitch-directed How to Rob a Bank, Violent Night 2, Ballerina Overdrive, and the Jorma Taccone thriller Over Your Dead Body.