SNL’s resident presidential impersonator Jay Pharoah has just signed on to star in Ride Along, a new comedy that Ice Cube is starring in and producing that is targeted for an early 2014 release. Variety reports that Pharoah has joined the cast in a supporting role along with Bryan Callen (MADtv, The Hangover) and Tika Sumpter (Think Like a Man). A comedic take on Training Day, Ride Along stars Kevin Hart as an elementary school teacher on a ride-along from hell with his fiance’s protective brother who’s also a corrupt cop. Pharoah will play a street-wise police informant, Sumpter will play Hart’s fiancee, and Callen will play one-half of an undercover cop pair with John Leguizamo.
Ice Cube’s been developing Ride Along since 2009, and the movie’s jumped studios and had several drafts of the script written. The screenplay was originally penned by Greg Coolidge (Employee of the Month) but has been re-written in various drafts by Bob Fisher & Steve Faber (Wedding Crashers), Roger Kumble (Cruel Intentions), and Jason Mantzoukas (Childrens Hospital). The team of Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay are currently working on a rewrite, making them the sixth and seventh dudes hired to write this thing. Tim Story (Barbershop, Fantastic Four, Think Like a Man). A comedic version of Training Day is a great premise, and hiring Pharoah, who’s new to the world of features but super funny and game, as a star is a smart move. We’ll see how this turns out in 2014, which is a really long time from now.
