Two days back I posted the trailer for the film Setup and had a pretty simple reaction: who the hell keeps hiring Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson to act in movies? But I should have gone deeper. Setup also happens to star both Bruce Willis and Ryan Phillippe, two still largely respectable actors who really deserve more than being co-stars in a 50 Cent pic. Why do I bring this up? Because Robert De Niro, one of the greatest actors of all time, has just signed up for his second 50 Cent movie.

Deadline reports that the actor once known for films like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, will star in Freelancers, the first film since Righteous Kill that will see him performing alongside G-Unit's most famous member. Even worse, Forest Whitaker is also in talks to join the cast. Directed by Jessy Terrero, 50 Cent plays a young man who signs up for the NYPD after his father, a former cop, was shot and killed. After graduating, he begins working with his father's former partner (De Niro) and becomes part of a rogue task force.

I've been holding out hope that De Niro's reunion with Scorsese on The Irishman could possibly save his career, but I seriously think that it's just too late. What a shame.