Jason Mitchell To Play Sean Bell In Upcoming “50 Shots” Biopic

Jason Mitchell To Play Sean Bell In Upcoming “50 Shots” Biopic

The career of actor Jason Mitchell appears to be turning a corner as the tragic story of Jamaica, Queens resident Sean Bell’s deadly shooting by police just hours before his wedding is on the way to the big screen. He shared his excitement and gratitude about taking on the role in a post he recently made to Instagram. He said:

I’d like to give thanks to God.. the Bell family and my f***ing guy @truvisionfilms This is about to be epic

In November 2006, Sean Bell left a strip club where he, his father, and two friends had been celebrating his bachelor party when New York City police opened fired on the vehicle they were traveling, shooting at it a total of 50 times. Sadly, the husband-to-be was killed after sustaining a gunshot wound to the neck while his friends, Joseph Guzman and Tent Benefield, were also injured by bullets but eventually recovered. Undercover police officers who were investigating the strip club the group attended apparently believed the men were armed. Police reportedly claimed that they heard one of the men mention a gun at some point, but it was determined that none of them had weapons. It should also be noted that Sean Bell’s friends were both shackled to their beds in the hospital, which drew significant pushback from the public. All of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting were not found guilty.

Jason Mitchell played the late rapper Eazy-E in the 2015 N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton” and has been named to take on the role of the slain 23-year-old. Back in April, Jason Mitchell made headlines when he was arrested on drugs and gun charges. He reportedly claims that the car he was in at the time was not his and was a rental from a friend. Jason allegedly had two guns in his possession: a semi-automatic pistol as well as a Glock 19. He also reportedly faced two felony charges for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Additionally, Jason was accused of sexual harassment by his co-star on “The Chi,” actress Tiffany Boone who complained about his alleged on-set behavior.

Jason Mitchell, Tiffany Boone on set of ‘The Chi’

Despite all of this, reports say that the new film chronicling the events leading up to the police-involved killing of Sean Bell has been in the works for three years. Sean’s father, William Bell, as well as the rest of the family, have reportedly been very involved in the development of this movie that is to be filmed in Queens. This particular story is quite timely, unfortunately, due to the recent police-involved deaths of other black Americans such as Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. At this time, no official release date or other details have been released for the forthcoming film.

What do you think about Jason Mitchell taking on the role of Sean Bell? Sound off in the comments!