Director Justin Lin, who is currently busy filming the sixth entry in the Fast & Furious franchise, is lining up a bit of a departure for a future project.  Per Vulture, the Fast Five helmer is in talks to direct the racially charged drama L.A. Riots.  The project has been in the works for years, and originally Spike Lee was set to direct the pic before postponing the project due to budget issues.  Now it appears that Lee is off the film altogether, and Lin may be the guy to finally get this thing into production.  Hit the jump for more.

In somewhat disappointing news today, HBO has decided to pass on Da Brick, a drama pilot from Academy Award-nominated director Spike Lee and boxing legend, Mike Tyson. Written by John Ridley and directed by Lee, Da Brick was partially inspired by Tyson’s formative youth and looked at what it was like to be a young, black man in an America that is supposedly “post-racial.” The project began when Tyson was on the set of Entourage for a guest role and he mentioned to series creator, Doug Ellin that he’d like to build a show around his own life, much like they did for Mark Wahlberg’s early days. What’s most disappointing to me is that John Boyega (Attack the Block) was set to star as Donnie, the central character who is a young boxer fresh out of juvenile detention on his 18th birthday. I would have been infinitely more interested in Boyega’s performance than the show’s premise itself, but as Deadline reports, HBO has passed. Such a shame. Da Brick was executive produced by Lee, Tyson, Ridley and Ellin.

Back in 2010, Mike Tyson appeared in a guest role on Entourage.  Apparently, while on set, Tyson and series creator Doug Ellin had a conversation.  Ellin said that during the conversation, “Mike asked me, why don’t do with my life what we did with Mark’s life?”

According to Deadline, instead of taking the suggestion as a joke, Ellin instead set about crafting a dramatic series around Mike Tyson’s experience growing up as a boxer in an urban environment.  After developing the project with his production partner, Jim Lefkowitz, Ellin passed writing duties to John Ridley who then convinced Spike Lee to direct the project.

Hit the jump to read more about the series, titled Da Brick.

Warner Bros. has picked up T.S. Nowlin’s western spec script Wild Guns.  Heat Vision reports that the script has “shades of Tombstone and Sherlock Holmes” and centers on legendary gunslingers Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.  The duo teams up after the Civil War to rescue the daughter of Sitting Bull from a powerful Shaman.  I suppose an alternate title could have been American History, I Hate You.  I don’t think a Western needs to be 100% historically accurate, but I was unaware that there was a Shaman problem in the old West.  I was also unaware that Sitting Bull, whose claim to fame is resisting the American government, needed the help of two American gunslingers.

Hit the jump for more details on the project as well as other Earp movies in the works.