Rising actor Michael B. Jordan is set to star in an upcoming film based on the award-winning book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.
The book is based on the true story of Bryan Stevenson, a young lawyer who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice designed to defend the poor, the wrongly accused and incarcerated, and women and children.
One of the first notable cases the EJI took on was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to death for a gruesome murder he denied committing. Stevenson soon discovered a web of lies and red tape associated with the case that forever changed his views of the justice system.
A hot commodity among all the major studios, the film will be produced by Gil Netter for Broad Green Pictures and directed by Destin Cretton (I Am Not A Hipster, Short Term 12 ), who will also serve as screenwriter along with Andrew Lanham.
“We are privileged to bring Bryan’s memoir to the world as a major motion picture,” said Gabriel and Daniel Hammond, Broad Green Pictures CEO and chief creative officer. “Destin is such a collaborative, thoughtful and talented filmmaker, he is going to inspire the world with this powerful true story. He’s part of an amazing team alongside Gil, Michael and Andrew, and together they will make a historic film.”
Adding to the buzz surrounding the film is the word that stars such as Denzel Washington and Will Smith have expressed interest in being a part of the production when shooting begins.
As for Jordan, the 28-year-old actor looks to have a very busy second half of 2015 as he has two major movies set to hit theaters. First up the heavily anticipated Fantastic Four adaptation currently scheduled to be released on July 30. Then he is set to as the title character in the Rocky franchise spin-off, Creed, which will open on Nov. 25.
