Jay-Z has already begun dabbling in producing, already developing one film for Netflix – the all-Black western The Harder They Fall, which is towards the end of shooting right now – but he’s not stopping there.
The award-winning rapper is now developing another film for the streamer, this one described as a Get Out-esque thriller, titled Forty Acres.
Luke Cage creator Cheo Hodari Coker will reportedly adapt the book the film will be based on, which follows a Civil Rights attorney who must fight for survival when he’s invited to join an elite Black organisation with a deep secret.
The project was originally pitched as a TV series, but Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment, who is also producing The Harder They Fall, felt it would work better as a film and decided to make it his company’s first feature film project.
Coker is a former journalist who actually has an overall deal for television at Netflix rival Amazon. So if Forty Acres was a show, he wouldn’t have been able to be involved. Because it’s a film, it’s all good.
Not only did he create the aforementioned Luke Cage, but he also helped write Straight Outta Compton. Paramount have since hired him to adapt Gucci Mane‘s autobiography ‘Diary Of A Trap God’.
Obviously there have been, and will continue to be, many films tagging themselves as Get Out-esque because that film was one of the best and most topical movies of the decade.
Since Forty Acres is in early development, there’s no way to tell if this will actually live up to that comparison, but hopefully Jay-Z can help persuade some big stars to get on board to help it get there.
#Peace.Love.FortyAcres
