Anthony Mackie is trading in his Falcon wings for the director’s chair.
According to Deadline, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star will debut as director with the upcoming film project, Spark. The film will King Richard‘s Saniyya Sidney as Claudette Colvin, the young girl who protested racist bus segregation before Rosa Parks.
Colvin was 15-years-old when she decided to protest segregation on a Montgomery, AL bus. But because she was a teen mother, civil rights activists didn’t think her case would be one that could resonate with the mainstream. Nine months later, Parks took that famous seat on a Montgomery bus, launching what we now know of as the Montgomery bus boycotts.
Make it Gravy Productions, Mansa Productions and Mandalay Pictures will produce the film with Ambergreen Entertainment. The film will also have the cooperation of the Colvin family, who have shared the life rights of Colvin’s story with Makie and the filmmaking team. The team has also secured the rights to Phillip Hoose’s biography of Colvin, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. The Banker writer Niceole R. Levy will write the screenplay.
Colvin herself gave a statement about the film, saying, “67 years ago, when history glued me to the seat of that bus in Montgomery, I could never have imagined that standing up for my rights to could spark a movement that would change the course of history. It is really an honor to have my story retold, by Mr. Mackie, for future generations to learn about our past so they can move forward knowing that progress is possible, and things do get better. I hope my story will inspire youth to continue to fight for civil rights and human dignity.”
Mackie said in a statement that he learned about Colvin after visiting Memphis, TN’s National Civil Rights Museum.
“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.