Ashton Sanders is the latest star poised to join Jesus Was My Homeboy.
He’d join a cast including Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield and Dominique Fishback.
The film, about Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, will be produced by Ryan Coogler and MACRO’s Charles D. King. Shaka King will direct the movie, which is set at Warner Bros. King also wrote the script with Will Berson. Sev Ohanian, Zinzi Coogler and MACRO’s Kim Roth and Poppy Hanks are executive producers.
Kaluuya would star as Hampton, and Stanfield would star as William O’Neal, who betrayed Hampton to the FBI.
This is the description of the film, according to Deadline, who broke the news: The film will follow the rise and untimely demise of Hampton as seen through O’Neal’s eyes. It will explore how the FBI infiltrated the Black Panthers, the psychology of their informant and the notorious assassination of the young political leader who died at the age of only 21.
Hampton quickly rose to the top of the ranks of the Illinois BPP chapter and became the deputy chairman of the national organization. As he became more visible and charismatic, he became a target to the FBI and was killed along with another Panther member, Mark Clark, in a controversial raid carried about by the Chicago PD and FBI. Though the deaths were first ruled as a justifiable homicide, further investigations took place, and some settlements were given due to civil suits. O’Neal, who gave the FBI the plans to Hampton’s apartment, died by suicide in 1990.
Sanders would play Black Panther Party member Larry Roberson. Fishback is Hampton’s lover, Deborah Johnson.
After first gaining prominence in Moonlight, Sanders’ star has been rapidly rising in both film and television. He currently stars in Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga.
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Photo: Getty Images
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