Jesse Williams will make his directorial debut with Till. According to Deadline, the film will focus on Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
The film, based on the 2005 documentary by Keith A. Beauchamp, will follow Till-Mobley’s fight for justice for her son, who was killed by white men in Mississippi during the Civil Rights era after a white woman falsely accused him of flirting. The Till family is said to be working with the production of the film, which will begin next summer.
“I’m honored to be directing the story of Mamie & Emmett: a tale of revolutionary defiance in the face of tremendous personal and public devastation,” said Williams according to Deadline. “An exploration of power and pulling back the curtain on cultural violence; of boyhood and maternity challenging America’s reflex to hide from itself; underdogs refusing to pretend that terror is freedom.”
There are several Till projects in the pipeline; in 2017, we reported that Whoopi Goldberg was set to make her directorial debut with a Till film based on the same documentary; it’s unclear if this is the same project that Williams is now attached to. At the time Goldberg was attached, Goldberg wanted Morris from America star Markees Christmas to play Till. Will Smith, Jay Z and Aaron Kaplan are also setting up an HBO miniseries on Till, with a script written by Steven Caple Jr. In January, we also reported that Taraji P. Henson is producing and starring in a film about Till called The Emmett Till Story, in which she’ll play Till-Mobley. John Singleton is slated to direct.