Actor Michael Rapaport is on board to direct a film version of Jason Starr‘s TOUGH LUCK. Rapaport has gained fame for his acting work in films such as BEATIFUL GIRLS, ZEBRAHEAD and the TV series PRISON BREAK, but he made his directorial debut with the acclaimed BEATS RHYME
S & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, a documentary about the pioneering rap act, A Tribe Called Quest.
Mickey Prada’s a nice kid. He works in a neighborhood seafood market in Brooklyn putting fish on ice. He’s got a nice girlfriend. He even delayed college a year, to help his sick dad. But Mickey’s got a problem. A customer at the fish store, Angelo Santoro, keeps asking Mickey to place bets for him and Angelo keeps losing. As Angelo gets further in the hole, his bad luck is turning out to be Mickey’s too.
Now Mickey’s got his bookie after him and Angelo’s showing him the butt of his pistol rather than paying him back. So when his best friend, Chris, asks Mickey to join him on a can’t-lose caper, Mickey decides to go along. But, surefire schemes often have a way of backfiring, and this one is sending Mickey into an uncharted part of Brooklyn, where fish like Chris and Mickey have trouble just staying alive.”
It turns out that Michael is a fan of Jason’s work.Michael contacted me directly about Tough Luck and his agent contacted mine,” Jason told me. “ He had been reading my stuff for a while and this novel in particular resonated with him. I had been a big fan of his for years so naturally I was excited that he wanted this to be his first narrative film. Tough Luck is probably the most New York-centric book I have written and Michael is the absolute perfect match for the material.”

Jason is handling the writing and is meeting with Michael when time permits. Michael is providing input about transitioning the story to the medium. Jason is about halfway through the screenplay and said he is having fun revisiting the characters after nine years and tackling the challenges that come with reworking the tale for film.