A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : RAP TO MOVIES : N.W.A’s Founder Follows Ice Cube to the Flickz

Ice Cube successfully moved from rap to the movies last year with his acclaimed role in “Boyz N the Hood.” Now, his one-time mates and current rivals in N.W.A are trying to do him one better: N.W.A founder Eazy-E’s new company, Broken Chair Flickz, is currently lining up financing for a film he co-wrote and plans to star in.

Scripts for “Smilin’ Facez”--a bloody revenge tale set in the streets of South-Central L.A.--are starting to make their way around Hollywood via agents at Triad and ICM. Eazy (real name: Eric Wright) developed the story idea with Mark Rucker, then hired young screenwriter Preston Whitmore III to write the script. There are roles for N.W.A members Yella, Ren and Dr. Dre as well as Eazy.

“The story is about two brothers, a betrayal thing,” Eazy says, claiming the script is more of a “true story” than “Juice,” the current urban street drama. “It’s about financial gain. You killed somebody so you can take over, then everything goes haywire.”

Says writer Whitmore, “This film is going to make ‘Boyz N the Hood’ look like an afterschool special. The characters are really N.W.A, so that should give it a lot more edge.”

Eazy says that despite the setting and tone of the film, he wouldn’t expect it to draw the gang violence at theaters that has plagued “Juice” and “Boyz N the Hood.” But he also says these films shouldn’t be blamed.

“When people do that they’re just looking to start trouble,” he says. “Movies don’t make people act a fool. People act a fool because they want to act a fool.”

He also says that the cinematic venture is not meant to show up Ice Cube, whom he says he still respects and talks to despite the war of words that Cube and N.W.A have engaged in on their records. But his explanation of why he wants to write, star and finance the film sounds like a volley at his former partner.

“I don’t want to be in somebody else’s movie and then they make all the money,” he says. “I’ve gotten offers to do the movies, but I won’t sell myself short and be in somebody else’s movie, like ‘Boyz N the Hood.’ I don’t think I woulda done that.”