Richie Merritt portrays Richard Wershe Jr., left, and Wershe Jr.(Photo: Scott Garfield)

There are many dramas and family troubles in "White Boy Rick," the new film about Richard Wershe Jr.'s turbulent years in Detroit as an FBI informant and drug dealer.

Part of this tension has been echoed in real life after Thursday's red carpet screening at Emagine Novi for guests and winners of the contest.

Two of the most important characters of the film came to the event. Wershe's sister, Dawn Scott, and ex-inmate Johnny Curry were there to see the movie for the first time.

Scott's character, played by actress Bel Powley, is shown on screen, struggling with a drug problem. The character of Curry, played by actor Jonathan Majors, is a drug boss who frames Wershe, then mistrusts him.

The real Scott and Curry posed for photos between them and with the director "White Boy Rick" Yann Demange before the screening.

It is after the end of the film that the emotions were strong.

In the midst of a Q & A session led by Lee Thomas, Entertainment Reporter at Fox 2 Detroit, starring Yann Demange, director of "White Boy Rick" and Kevin Dietz, WDIV Channel 4 reporter, Scott is heard team.

"I'm Rick's sister, how dare you that your people come and ask me to shut up!" she said loudly.

Scott expressed his anger at not being contacted about the project. "You did not recognize me from the first day," she told Demange.

Thomas tried to regain control of the discussion for several minutes, until Scott moved into the lobby. She was followed by members of her party and by several spectators who expressed their agreement with her complaints.

The representatives of "White Boy Rick" were invited to comment on the incident, but have not yet responded.

Curry, who said he was not contacted by the film, stayed until the end. He said the movie was "OK" but did not get its correct representation.

More: The Drug Crisis in the 1980s in Detroit Appears in "White Boy Rick"

"In my case, it was not the real Johnny Curry," he said. Curry attended with Rashard Cardon, a filmmaker from the Detroit area, who said he was working on developing a reality show with Curry.

According to a spokesman for Emagine Novi, Scott left the multiplex voluntarily and was not asked to leave.

"White Boy Rick" features acting newcomer Richie Merritt, 17, as the real Richard Wershe Jr. and Matthew McConaughey, his father. He tells how Wershe became an FBI informant at age 14 and was abandoned by the authorities when he was sentenced to 17 years for drug possession.

Wershe, now 49, was released on parole in 2017 by the state of Michigan after spending about 30 years behind bars. He is currently serving a sentence in Florida on a separate charge involving a stolen car system. He cooperated with the film and met several key members of the production, including Demange and producer Scott Franklin, who told the Free Press that he still spoke to her a few times a week.

A few minutes before the question and answer session ended, Demange spoke of the difficulty of taking on a feature film inspired by a real story. "You have a responsibility, a moral and ethical responsibility, because people are still alive" and Wershe stays in prison.

Before the movie, Scott said that she felt "very emotional" at the prospect of seeing her. "It will be very hard to see my father and my grandparents, who have died," she said.

Many viewers gave a good review to "White Boy Rick" after the screening. "It was a very entertaining film," said Detroit screenwriter Toni Cunningham, who also gave the film, shot primarily in Cleveland, as a sign of visual association with Detroit.

"I think it was a good drama, a very good cast, a good staging, some music," said Marjon Parham of Detroit. "I liked the fact that it did not really focus on Detroit, but I did a good job in telling a Detroit-based story."

Shavon Edwards, of Detroit, said she had left the discussion after the film because she did not think Scott was being treated justly: "I'm angry because … they do not have it. Have not listened because it's his life. "

Contact Julie Hinds, critic of the pop culture of Detroit Free Press: 313-222-6427 or [email protected].

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