As mentioned on the blog many months ago, Nick Cannon signed on to the film as MICO. There are many folks who have read the book that had a lot of trouble imaging someone who hosted the TEEN CHOICE AWARDS last weekend with Hillary Duff holding it down in this role, but I promise this: You will not recognize the Nick you think you know when you see his scenes in our film. He brings an edge and grit that proves that this young actor is legit.

Yep, the pun-as-title says all you need to know. Chris Bridges aka LUDACRIS, internationally known rapper, actor and personality, is officially in the BDL family. As Julius, the group home aide, in our film, Chris’ performance is lined with the perfect combination of compassion and humor. He mentors Sticky with tough love and sympathy and leaves our hero with a gift that comes to define him.

We are so very lucky to have had Chris lend his skills to our little picture. More notes on cast from the edit room soon….

There has been much debate and rumor about who is, indeed, portraying Sticky’s foster mother Francine in the film and it is time to set the record straight. I know that folks got excited about our original attachment for this role, but y’all should get even more excited about the woman who actual threw down an amazing portrayal of Francine, the one, the only, Rosanna Arquette.

Rosanna absolutely brought it and the Francine I’m seeing on screen is more than I ever hoped she could be - Rosanna tore this role up. Believe that.

Continuing with the theme of presenting you the cast of BALL DON’T LIE, I offer you the official pick for Anh-Thu, Sticky’s girlfriend…

Kim Hidalgo

Kim is wonderful in the film - she proved to be the perfect blend of teenage anxiety, teen confidence and earnestness to pull of one of Sticky’s saviors. We look for Kim to make some moves once our film hits the streets.

Yep, we’ve been hard at work sifting through all the amazing footage we shot and are now in the editing picture phase of the film. As you might imagine, this is no simple task with so much great material taken from the book and delivered via the script. But we’re pushing, pulling and tweaking it all to make something we hope is really dynamic.
So without much exciting news to report, I’ve decided to finally set the record straight on what actual actors ended up gracing us with their skills. There have been many rumors (some created in blogs written by yours truly) that didn’t necessarily pan out for a variety of reasons (scheduling being the main one), but here lies the truth.

Starting with the one and only Sticky, I present to you the cast of BALL DON’T LIE…

Sticky was indeed portrayed by Grayson “The Professor” Boucher.

After tonight, there will be no hiding the fact that we actually made this movie last month. See, tonight ESPN2 will air an episode of STREETBALL: THE AND1 MIX TAPE TOUR that goes “behind-the-scenes” on the set of our giant undertaking. Please tune in at 9:30pm PST to witness a brief glimpse at the film version of BDL.

So, I learned an important lesson from Grayson “The Professor” Boucher: The Art of Perseverance. This lesson was not so much taught by him, but rather taught by the experience of this film.

For two years (yes, two years), I’d been running around town (well documented on this blog) preaching that Grayson was the only dude that could play Sticky. I convinced everyone and anyone with whom I could get an audience that he was Sticky and that Sticky was him, this includes Grayson Boucher himself, financiers, other actors, agents, managers, Michael Roiff, Matt de la pena, and, most importantly, my own damn self, among many, many others. I preached so much, I got tired of my own preaching.

Yeah, yeah, I know, no blogs for six weeks, what’s up with that? What’s up with that is that we finally stopped writing, talking and high-posting and actually shot a movie called BALL DON’T LIE…. As someone who normally exists in a bit of a vacuum, it is amazing that so much can go down in six weeks… The question is where to start….

I guess I’ll just start at the end. I want to thank everyone who worked on, acted in, supported, felt, believed, sweat for, lost sleep over and continues to breathe BALL DON’T LIE. We were blessed with an unbelievable cast and a simply incredible crew, both of which supplied us with relentless energy, pure passion and a firm belief in a simple little tale that struggled to let the world know what it truly means to be 3 stones back. Thank you from the pit of my heart and from the hearts of Michael, Smitty, Matt, and everyone else who’s been fighting for Sticky for what amounts to years. It means a lot that so many people rallied to care about a project that so many others hadn’t ever given a chance. We have a chance now and, for that, I’m grateful. It’s up to us again to make this thing soar….

Sorry, we haven’t been posting, but that is a sign of serious business (cue the EPMD please)… It’s hectic around here as we try to make the biggest little movie on earth. Today we Tech Scouted some of our locations in order to share information with all crew members on how, why and where we are going to try to finally bring BDL to life… It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s draining, but, damn, it’s certainly nice to finally drive the lane toward making this film. There are a lot of people, talented people, taking a shot with BDL and we aim to make them all proud. From the folks graciously letting us invade their houses, businesses and streets to the amazing crew members we have to our insanely talented cast, I am so thankful we have each other to with which to do this… It will be, if nothing else, a slice of truth.

Lotta folks slept, but we’re still awake. Always awake… Watching, waiting, prepping to claim this world as Sticky’s….