Last week it was announced that the football drama All Things Fall Apart was added to the 15th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival and now this week the film’s director, Mario Van Peebles, is praising the acting skills of the film’s star 50 Cent.

“Everyone has a different skill set that takes us inside his or her characters and 50 Cent’s got good timing. I think he really held his own against actors like Ray Liotta, Lynn Whitfield and myself — we’ve all been in the game for awhile,” Van Peebles told BET.com. “He never gave up. 50 was ready and I really worked him all the way. He really has a natural sense for acting.”

All Things Fall Apart tells the story of college football player planning a career in professional sports when he develops cancer. 50 Cent reportedly loss 54 pounds to transform himself into the character Deon at the height of his illness. Van Peebles says the rapper’s dedication to his role only added to the movie’s authenticity.

"I had to lose weight — about 20 pounds when I played Malcolm X in Ali, but 50 Cent was losing so much weight I started calling him twenty-five cents. He lost a lot of weight to do the role," says Van Peebles. "And we just timed it out so that 50 could slowly add the weight back on when we would shoot certain scenes. He was dedicated, incredibly focused and took it really seriously."

All Things Fall Apart screens at the Urbanworld Film Festival Friday, September 16 and will be relased in theaters in January 2012.

UPDATE: All Things Fall Apart will be making its world premiere on BET Star Cinema on December 3, 2011 at 9:30P/8:30C.

(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/GettyImages)