Ja Rule, a foul-mouthed rapper with a history of gun and drug charges, is playing the lead role in an upcoming film about a troubled man who finds faith and turns his life around. Rule is so proud of the part, he says it's got a "shot at winning awards and sh*t." Hoo boy.

I'm in Love with a Church Girl recently finished filming and is slated for a 2011 TBA release. The film is based on the true story of Galley Molina, a former music industry exec who was involved in drug trafficking and did prison time before finding God; he's now a youth pastor at Evergreen Valley Church in San Jose.

In an interview on the film's official website, Ja Rule said "I almost felt like I was that character" -- and it's easy to see why. Rule has been in trouble with the law numerous times with drug and gun charges, though he's never served time in jail; a gun charge is still pending. And his potty mouth is notorious; all seven of his studio albums come with explicit language warnings. In a recent interview, he ripped fellow artists -- using the term "n*ggas" -- for what he perceives as misuse of the phrase "keeping it real." Rule said, "You know what keeping it real is? Feeding your f*cking family, taking care of your f*cking kids, that's what's keeping it real. All that other frivolous bullsh*t is just that." Hmmm, okay.

Rule, who has acted before (The Fast and the Furious, Scary Movie 3), is clearly proud to be part of a faith-based project: "I just shot this real ill movie, this Tyler Perry sh*t called I’m In Love With A Church Girl, with Adrienne Bailon. They talking about taking it to the festivals and sh*t. So we can get a shot at winning awards and sh*t. It’s like everything is moving in the right direction for me right now." (Note: It's not a Tyler Perry film.)

I wonder if they'll be sending Rule to pastors' conferences and churches to plug the film, and other sh*t like that? Good Lord.

The film also stars Stephen Baldwin, Michael Madsen, and former Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon, Christian rappers TobyMac and T-Bone also appear in the film.

Molina says that “the message of this film is really simple but profound. Sometimes God needs to use extreme measures to deal with extreme circumstances. I was that extreme circumstance. This film is simply about the power of God in a man’s life. The unique part of this story aside from being based and inspired on my real-life experiences is that I wrote it while I was incarcerated in a federal prison on drug trafficking charges.”

The movie will be the first release from Reverence Gospel Media. Here's a video of Molina talking about the film: