Spike Lee & Jordan Peele Team Up For ‘Black Klansman’ Thriller

Spike Lee & Jordan Peele Team Up For ‘Black Klansman’ Thriller

Spike Lee and Jordan Peele are teaming up for a new film. The pair are set to collaborate on “Black Klansman,” based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the late 1970’s.  John David Washington, the son of Denzel Washington, who stars in HBO’s hit series Ballers, alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dule Hill, is in talks to star in the film, which will begin shooting this fall. The movie is described as,

The story of Ron Stallworth, a detective in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who in 1978 answered an ad in the local newspaper seeking new Klan members. He not only gained membership, but rose through the ranks to become the head of the local chapter. Stallworth, who is black, was able to gather all sorts of intelligence by pretending to be a white supremacist on the phone or via other forms of correspondence but sent a white fellow officer in his place for any in-person meetings. During his undercover work, Stallworth managed to sabotage several cross-burnings and other activities of the notorious hate group.

Stallworth, who will be played by Washington, wrote about his experience in a 2014 book titled Black Klansman. The title is not connected to The Black Klansman, a Blaxploitation revenge thriller from 1966 that told of an African American man who goes deep into the KKK in order to seek vengeance for the death of his daughter.

Lee and Peele have been on working on the bringing the film to the big screen for two years. Lee will direct and produce the movie with Peele producing. Earlier this year, Peele’s production company landed a first-look film deal with Universal Pictures, the studio behind his critical and commercial hit “Get Out,” which has grossed over $100 million to date. In March, it was announced that Peele is returning to TV, snagging an HBO straight-to-series order for Lovecraft Country, a drama series from the writer-director. Based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Matt Ruff, the show be written by Underground executive producer and writer Misha Green, who will also serve as showrunner.

Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut with She’s Gotta Have It (1986), and has since directed such films as Do the Right Thing (1989), Malcolm X (1992), The Original Kings of Comedy (2000), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), and most recently Chi-Raq (2015). Lee has acted in ten of his own films.

by:@missjohnsonp_