John Boyega Grabs Lead Role in Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit Riots MoviePosted by Wilson Morales
June 21, 2016
Source: THR
Continuing to capitalizing on his fame from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, John Boyega has been cast in the lead role for Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit Riots Movie, reports THR.
This is Bigelow’s first film since 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty. Her previous film was the Oscar winning film Hurt Locker.
The site states that details of the project are unknown for now but the story is set against the backdrop of Detroit’s devastating riots that took place over five summer days in 1967, with the film seeking to explore the systemic racism in the city. The roll call is described as an ensemble piece.
Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures is financing with Bigelow and Boal producing along with Ellison and Matthew Budman. Colin Wilson and Greg Shapiro will executive produce.
Boyega’s role hasn’t been described as of yet and there’s no studio is attached as distributor but Bigelow, Ellison and company are eyeing a 2017 release. timed to the 50th anniversary of the riots.
According to Wikipedia, The 1967 Detroit riot, also known as the 12th Street riot, was a violent public disorder that turned into a civil disturbance in Detroit, Michigan. It began on a Saturday night in the early morning hours of July 23, 1967. The precipitating event was a police raid of an unlicensed, after-hours bar then known as a blind pig, just north of the corner of 12th Street (today Rosa Parks Boulevard) and Clairmount Avenue on the city’s Near West Side. Police confrontations with patrons and observers on the street evolved into one of the deadliest and most destructive riots in the history of the United States, lasting five days and surpassing the violence and property destruction of Detroit’s 1943 race riot.
Earlier this month, Boyega was cast to star in Pacific Rim 2, where he will play the son of the character played by Idris Elba, who played Stacker Pentecost in the first film.
Boyega, whose breakout came with Attack The Block, next stars with Tom Hanks and Emma Watson in The Circle, and follows The Force Awakens with Star Wars: Episode VIII, as well as the animated BBC miniseries Watership Down opposite James McAvoy and Ben Kingsley. Boyega will make his stage-starring debut on the West End in Woyzeck at The Old Vic, next year.
