Rappers-turned-actors are a dime a dozen these days, but rappers turned directors? That might be a new trend all its own. Just a few weeks after Ice Cube's directorial debut documentary Straight Outta L.A. bowed at the Tribeca Film Festival, Deadline reports that Universal has picked up The Man With The Iron Fists, a kung fu film that will be RZA's directorial debut.

RZA will also star in the film, if I'm reading this right, as a blacksmith who basically invents kung fu in feudal China. RZA wrote the screenplay with Eli Roth, who says he doesn't know if he'll play a role in the film, but dropped Quentin Tarantino's name to Deadline as a way, probably, of lending legitimacy to the project.

"It started with a trip RZA and I took with Quentin to Iceland in 2005. He hooked me on his dream of directing and reinventing the Kung Fu movie genre. It reminded me of my love of horror. RZA went to the set of Kill Bill, and got a master directing course from Quentin. While I was away shooting Inglourious Basterds, RZA went to China to shoot test footage on his own, with all the choreography. It was very visual and I think he will bring to life a script that mixes kung fu with a spaghetti Western mindset and a hip hop influence.

The last thing the world needs is a Kill Bill knockoff, but I've got to say, this project sounds just weird enough to be intriguing, even if it's in that "potential trainwreck" kind of way.