No, that's not the Notorious B.I.G. That's Jamal Woolard, who has just been cast by Fox Searchlight to play him, Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, in the upcoming biopic Notorious. Man, the only possible critique I could come up with is that his eyebrows are a little dark. That's some spot-on casting. They're definitely not Dead Wrong.

Voletta Wallace, Smalls' mom, is happy with the casting as well: "it was Jamal's charming personality, warm spirit, wonderful sense of humor and beautiful smile that won my heart. He is a talented and charismatic actor and I am excited that he will bring Christopher's character to the big screen." Topping that off, Woolard also has the real-life experience to make this pop. THR adds to the press release, explaining that Jamal is a drug-dealer-turned-rapper just like Wallace was.

Under the directorial eye of George Tillman Jr., we've got Woolard as Wallace, Angela Bassett as Voletta, Derek Luke as Sean Combs, and Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur. Production begins March 24 in New York.

Most teen house parties don't end in a police siege, or at least the ones that I went to. But that is exactly what happened in Westchester County, New York in May 2004; a complaint about noise and underage drinking at a house party turned into a three-hour standoff between police and almost forty teenagers barricaded in a suburban home. It's a strange story about a group of teens that decided to just turn off the lights and not answer the door rather than deal with reality of the cops on the front lawn. The real-life event is the basis of the teen drama The Siege of Fulton Ave. and The Hollywood Reporter has announced that George Tillman Jr. (Men of Honor) has signed on to direct.

The film is based on a New York Magazine article Standoff at Rye by David Amsden that provided a hour-by-hour account that luckily ended with only infuriated parents and relatively light criminal charges being laid. Jeff Roda wrote a script and the film is being producer in part by State Street, who were behind the Barbershop franchise, and by Contrafilm who also produced the new Jim Carrey thriller The Number 23. There is no word of any casting choices yet, but if the film stays true to the original events it's going to have to be a pretty sizable list.