Reportedly, Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg will direct a film on the life of the late Emmett Till and already has an actor in mind to play the title role.
This film, tentatively entitled Till, is not to be confused with the HBO film we reported on several days ago executive produced by Will Smith and Jay Z.
This version is from the team lead by Keith A. Beauchamp (the director of the 2005 documentary, The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till) and producer Frederick Zollo (Mississippi Burning, Ghosts of Mississippi), and will be based on Beauchamp’s documentary, as well as Simeon Wright’s “Simeon’s Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till.” Filming is scheduled to begin next year in Mississippi.
Despite the fact that he bears little resemblance to Till, Goldberg wants Markees Christmas (Morris From America) for the title role.
The project joins other Emmett Till films or miniseries in the works: one from Chaz Ebert, which will be based on the book, “Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America,” co-written by Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley (who passed away in 2003), and journalist Christopher Benson.
The second will be based on the play, “The Face of Emmett Till” (also co-written by Till’s mother along with David Barr III) from Skyland Pictures and FireRock Bay Pictures, which James Moll (The Last Days) is attached to direct, from a script penned by David Barr III and David Scott Hay, who are also co-producing.
A third project is set up at HBO as a miniseries, from a producing team that includes Will Smith, Jay Z and Aaron Kaplan. Currently, in active development, Steven Caple Jr. just signed up to pen the script for what has been described as “an immersive and in-depth exploration of the Emmett Till story,” and is expected to be a 6-hour miniseries for HBO.
Which film will see the light of day first, your guess is as good as ours!!!
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