A Huey Newton biopic is in development and has booked its star.
Former NBA player Matt Barnes announced on Instagram that a Huey Newton project he is spearheading has been greenlit.
According to Barnes’s post, the film will be titled, Power to the People, and Keith Powers will star, presumably as Newton.
No official announcement has come.
Powers, who starred as Ronnie DeVoe in BET’s history-making The New Edition Story, is also a series regular on the Freeform soap, Famous in Love.
Barnes is the latest NBA star, current or former, who has ventured into film/TV production. LeBron James has seen huge successes, most notably with the former Starz comedy, Survivor’s Remorse. He has many projects also in development as of now at multiple networks. Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin and Stephon Marbury are just a few others who have dove into the entertainment industry as well.
This news in particular also comes at a time where activist films and portrayals seem to be in hot demand.
A film adaptation of the memoir of Elaine Brown, the first woman to lead the BPP is in development.
In upcoming films, Corey Hawkins in a supporting role, will portray Civil Rights activist Stokely Carmicheal in Spike Lee’s Black Klansman. Jamie Foxx, also in a supporting role, will portray BPP leader Geronimo Pratt in a film starring Anthony Mackie on the infamous Signal Hall police brutality case.
