As noted earlier last week, Danny Glover will lend his talents, joining the starring cast of the slave uprising project Tula, The Revolt, from Dutch director Jeroen Leinders, which is based on a true story about a slave uprising on the island of Curacao, a Dutch colony in 1795, and the man called Tula, who stood up against his oppressors, and led the revolt that would last about a month.
Glover leads the pack of international actors that also includes Obi Abili, Jeroen Krabbé,Derek de Lint, Henriette Tol and Barry Hay.
Obi Abili (a UK actor of Nigerian decent) will star in the film as the titular Tula, while Glover will play Shinishi, the elder of the group, a role that the producers are calling a very important one.
The filmmakers hope to complete the film to release in 2013, a year that marks the 150th anniversary since slavery was finally abolished on the island of Curacao (1863).
Principal photography is underway.
The inspiration for the rebellion was that Tula and an initial group of 40 to 50 slaves requested 3 things of their overseers: an end to collective punishment, an end to working on Sundays, and lastly, the right to buy their wears from anywhere they wanted, not just from their masters, which was the rule of the day.
Apparently, they didn't get what they asked for, and thus, Tula organized a group of fellow slaves who resolved not to work as slaves anymore. The rebellion, which actually began peacefully and was meant to be 'won with words, rather than arms," lasted for more than a month. But, unfortunately, it didn't end as peacefully as it begun, because the colonial forces crushed the revolt, Tula was captured, tortured, convicted and executed.
This film will tell his story – a man who's revered in Curacao today. The producers are calling it an action-drama.
With production in motion, some on-set photos have surfaced, and they are embedded within this post: