Actor Nate Parker (Red Tails, Beyond The Lights) is hard at work on a film about the 1831 slave rebellion led by Nat Turner.
The historical drama, which will serve as Parker’s directorial debut, will be titled The Birth of a Nation, an obvious reference to D.W. Griffith’s highly controversial and racist silent propaganda film from 1915.
Parker, who also wrote and is set to star in the film, says it has always been a dream of his to play Nat Turner even though he’s generally not remembered in America’s history books as a good guy.
“A lot of people thought he was a bad guy, but it’s [about one’s] perspective,” Parker says. “I don’t think he was a bad guy at all, but we all have our ideas of what we want and why we want it, and what we’ll do to achieve those things.”
After reportedly having religious visions, Turner led a group of slaves to revolt, resulting in the deaths of between 55-65 whites in Virginia. The rebellion came to an end after two days with Turner going into hiding for two months before finally being captured.
The Birth of a Nation is set to begin filming this fall..
