Chris Rock to Star in "Will You Be My Black Friend?"

Chris Rock will star in a new film about a white man's amusing attempts to make an African-American friend, reports Variety.

The movie is based on a November 2008 GQ magazine article, "Will You Be My Black Friend?" in which writer Devin Freidman, a white man in his mid-30s, realizes at a cocktail party that his circle of friends is overwhelmingly white, and decides to place a Craigslist ad for a black friend.

"It's amazing to me that almost everyone I know has either black friends or white friends, but not both. We could have a black president, and still not have a very mixed country", Friedman wrote in the article.

"Admitting that you count your black friends is a violation of the Unracist White Person Magna Carta," he continued. "But really, I couldn't handle walking around knowing that I have the same number of black friends as George W. Bush."

Harpo Films, Oprah Winfrey's production company, has partnered with indie film studio Lionsgate to buy the rights to the story.

"The cinematic potential of 'Will You Be My Black Friend?' jumped out at us immediately," said Michael Paseornek, president of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group. "What really makes the piece special is Devin's voice, which is honest, astute and extremely funny. We can't imagine a better actor to help bring this story to life than Chris Rock."