Merritt discovered at school for ‘White Boy Rick’ role
MOVIES
TORONTO — How does a teen living in Baltimore who’s never acted wind up starring opposite Matthew McConaughey?
For Richie Merritt, 17, it was simple. “I was coming in late for school,” he began. “There was a sign-in at the front desk and a casting director was there and saw me.
“Then I saw an acting coach and was sent to California and did a screen test with Matthew, to see if we connected.”
“White Boy Rick” is the true story of Detroit’s Richard Wershe Jr., who at 14 became an FBI undercover agent and informant.
Wershe got his nickname from the black gang he hung out with — and informed on. Under suspicion, Wershe survived a near fatal stabbing. At 17, he got a life sentence for drug dealing.
Merritt understood Rick. “We have a lot in common,” he said during an interview at the Fairmont Royal York, his beaming mother a few feet away with his publicist.
“We both come from the inner city, grew up in hard times and know what street life is like.”
Surprisingly, when he met McConaughey, he had no idea who he was.
“I’m never star-struck by anybody. Whoever you are, you’re just a person,” he said.
As for playing Rick, “I took things out of my life to reflect him. He had a father and a sister who loved him. I have a loving family: five brothers and one sister, two mothers, one father — and I love them.”
“He had the confidence to behave honestly in front of the camera. It’s like a good documentary,” McConaughey said.
For any actor, the Oscar winner added, “there’s not something better than reacting to a real moment. So the opportunity was to have someone who comes in and knows the world and behaves honestly in front of the camera.
“He wasn’t, ‘Why is everyone looking at me for?’ At the same time, he wasn’t trying to overplay it.”
Merritt proved mightily adept at being Rick.
“We have a diner scene together,” said Bel Powley, who plays drug addict Dawn, Rick’s sister.
“We shot it and Yann (Demange, the director) said, ‘Something’s not working. Just make up stuff.’
“I thought, ‘Make it up? I hate improvisation and I thought, ‘Oh (expletive).’ But he was amazing. It was as if he wrote the whole scene in his head.”
“I didn’t do nothing special,” Merritt said. “Just brought my energy.”