After working with Kathryn Bigelow on Best Picture victor The Hurt Locker, Anthony Mackie is set to reteam with the director for her untitled movie about the 1967 Detroit riots, Mashable has confirmed.
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The riots, which lasted for five days and claimed the lives of 43 people and injured well over 1,000 people, began in an after-hours nightclub in Detroit and eventually grew to engulf the entire city. Boal has been researching and working on the project, which explores systemic racism in urban Detroit, for more than a year.
Producers are looking to release the film in 2017, the 50th anniversary of the riots. Reteaming with Mark Boal, the screenwriter for The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Bigelow will take on one of the deadliest riots in recent United States history.
The project marks Boal’s first screenplay centering around domestic conflicts.
Production is set to get underway in the coming weeks, and as this is acting as Bigelow’s first foray behind the lens since acclaimed war drama Zero Dark Thirty four years ago, there’s already a crackle of excitement among moviegoers. The duo are also producing the film with Megan Ellison of financier Annapurna Pictures, as well as Matthew Budman and Colin Wilson. Greg Shapiro is executive producing. Anthony Mackie also is reuniting with Bigelow, who directed him The Hurt Locker, for the film. He has an upcoming role in Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge.
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The three up-and-coming stars will join fellow rising talent John Boyega in the drama.
