‘Insecure’ Director Melina Matsoukas Adapting Bob Marley Assassination Project

Melina Matsoukas

‘Insecure’ Director Melina Matsoukas

Melina Matsoukas has landed an adaptation of the award-winning Marlon James novel A Brief History of Seven Killings for Amazon Studios. Matsoukas, who is chief director of the HBO series Insecure, is developing the project as a series and will executive produce as well as direct the episodes. She is teaming up with the author James, who will write the script as well as executive produce.  Malcolm Spellman, a writer and co-executive producer on Empire, will be the showrunner and exec produce as well. Matsoukas said in a statement,

A Brief History of Seven Killings is a complex story that needs to be told, about a people whose voices need to be heard. It’s been my dream to bring this story to life onscreen since reading the first line of Marlon’s book. I am deeply honored to be entrusted with this tapestry of stories so entrenched in roots, reggae, race, mysticism and politics, while working alongside Marlon to ensure an authentic portrayal of his words.

Seven Killings begins with the attempted assassination of reggae icon Bob Marley and explores its aftermath, looking at one vital day in multiple time periods. The novel looked at Jamaican politics, poverty, race, class and the volatile relationship between the U.S. and the Caribbean, and traced the connection between CIA efforts to destabilize a left-wing Jamaican government in the 1970s to the brutal realities of gang wars in the Kingston ghettos and their spread to New York in the 1980s.

Matsoukas credits outside of Insecure include directing videos for Lady Gaga and Beyonce. She has also directed episodes of Netflix’s Master of None.

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