50 Cent To Work With Bette Midler?

We're used to "WTF"-prompting news regarding 50 Cent, but here's the latest: He's set to star in a modern-day film remake of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella, The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, and may work with Bette Midler on some kind of jazz collaboration.

The rapper (real name Curtis Jackson) will star alongside Forest Whitaker in Jekyll And Hyde, though it's not yet known which one he'll play, according to Variety magazine. Both men would fit either roles, considering 50's known for his bad-ass ways and Whitaker has previously played both good and bad guys (including ex-Ugandan dictator Idi Amin).

Fiddy was supposed to have replaced Whitaker in the Sylvester Stallone movie, The Expendables, but was dropped after a week. The 33-year-old claimed it was his decision to not take the role, not the film's producers.

Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers) will direct Jekyll And Hyde, which is expected to begin shooting in late summer.

"The combination of such formidable talent in front of and behind the camera will turn this wonderful gothic story into a modern classic for a whole new generation," executive producer Luc Roeg told Variety.

Midler told the U.K.'s The Sun tabloid that she first met 50 Cent in New York City while doing environmental work with the New York Restoration Project, which was restoring a public garden in 50 Cent's childhood neighbourhood of Queens.

Midler later asked him to work with her on a 1920s jazz project.

"Little Jewish lady and the great big rapper," Midler said of the potential project.

"He's such a doll. I love him. He's gorgeous.

"I was hoping we'd sing songs from the Depression, but he's so young that I don't think he knows any of them. I'm going to have to check things out and see what he feels like singing."

Fiddy's long-awaited Before I Self Destruct is now scheduled for release in June.