Nicolas Cage, Andy Garcia & More to Topline Movie "The Prince"

Director Cameron Van Hoy has began production on "The Prince", a new feature drama penned by Pulitzer Prize winner and Oscar nominee David Mamet. 

Scott Haze (Old Henry) leads a starry ensemble that also includes Nicolas Cage (Pig), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Giancarlo Esposito (Parish), and Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Eleven).

"The Prince" chronicles an addict’s tumultuous odyssey through the high-stakes world of power, pleasure, and pain on a transformative journey toward recovery.

Multiple sources close to the project that the lead character Parker, played by Haze, is inspired at least in part by Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, whose abuse of drugs and alcohol is well documented — including in his 2021 memoir "Beautiful Things" — and who was found guilty Tuesday in Delaware of three felony counts related to the purchase of a gun in 2018.

Mamet alluded to his work on such a project a few months ago, in an interview with podcaster Andrew Klavan. “These guys who did Sound of Freedom, they came to me and they said, ‘You want to write a movie for us?’ I said, ‘Yeah sure, what do you got?'” he added. “They said they wanted to do a movie about Hunter Biden.”

Mamet stressed that the character in his film wouldn’t be called Hunter Biden and that the project wouldn’t be “a travelogue.” 

Producers on The Prince include Haze, Van Hoy, Sean Wolfington, Jo Henriquez, and Lije Sarki, with John Devaney, CJ Kirvan, and Jose Luiz Zapata serving as executive producers.

A source close to the filmmakers denied that the project draws inspiration from Biden, stating, “This project has been in the works for a while and, as it currently stands and is led by van Hoy, is a fictional account of fictional events and characters.”

“It’s amazing to work with David Mamet on this wildly original screenplay,” said Van Hoy in a statement. “Collaborating with him, Academy Award winners Nicolas Cage and J.K. Simmons, along with Giancarlo Esposito, Andy Garcia, and my dear friend and collaborator Scott Haze, is a dream.”