Actor Anthony Mackie is all set to make his feature directorial debut with 'Spark' and 'King Richard's fame Saniyya Sidney has been roped in to play the lead in the drama.
Deadline confirmed the news that Mackie is producing the upcoming project with Kellon Akeem, Jason Michael Berman and Marc Ambrose.
Saniyya Sidney will play the role of Claudette Colvin, an unsung pioneer of the Civil Rights era in the upcoming feature drama.
As per Deadline, the film will revolve around the story of Colvin who was 15-years-old when she bravely stood up to racism, getting arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a crowded segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
This was nine months before Rosa Parks became a symbol of the Civil Rights era symbol for courageously doing essentially the same thing. Initially embraced by Civil Rights leaders for her courage, Colvin was brushed out of history when those same civic leaders decided a poor, dark-skinned teenage girl would not be the ideal face for their public campaign.
The film will be a co-production between Make it with Gravy Productions, Mansa Productions, Mandalay Pictures in Association with Ambergreen Entertainment. Niceole R. Levy, who worked with Mackie on 'The Banker', is writing it.
The filmmakers have the life rights of Colvin and are working with her family. They have also secured rights to 'Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice' by Phillip Hoose.
Deadline quoted Mackie saying that he came across the story of Claudette Colvin during a visit to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. Much the way that the story of entrepreneur Bernard Garrett sparked him to star in the George Nolfi-directed 'The Banker', he felt Colvin's story needed to be told after all these years.
"Not only was I moved, I was inspired. It's great to be a superhero in movies but she's a real live one living amongst us and I'm honored to tell her story," he said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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