50 Cent joins British gangster flick

Curtis Jackson, or in monetary terms 50 Cent, is heading towards British shores to star in Alex de Rakoff's London set gangsta film DEAD MAN RUNNING. The flick started shooting today apparently, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

How about this for a cast? Fiddy is going to be starring alongside East End Danny Dyer, his mate and THE BUSINESS co-star Tamer Hussan (who by the way is a loverly loverly man), Oscar magnet Brenda Blethyn and Monet Mazur, who starred in Rolling Stones film STONED.

The film, according to the trade paper, centers on an ex-con trying to go straight who is given 24 hours to raise 100,000 pounds ($150,000) to pay off Jackson's loan shark or become a "dead man running." The mission takes him from the dog tracks of East London to the underground drug scene of rural Manchester as they try every trick and scam in the book to get the cash before it's too late.

Get this. English soccer stars Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole are acting as executive producers on the film. Not acting. Thank goodness.