Anthony Mackie to play Johnnie Cochran in police brutality film

Anthony Mackie is going to court as attorney Johnnie Cochran in an upcoming film about police brutality.
The Captain America: Civil War star has been cast as the late legal eagle, who famously represented O.J. Simpson in the American football star’s murder trial two decades ago, in an as-yet-untitled film centring around his landmark Signal Hill case in 1981.
Cochran represented college football star Ron Settles, who had been arrested for speeding in the Signal Hill area of Los Angeles County. Shortly after he was taken intro custody, Settles was found hanged in his cell. While police called it a suicide, Cochran pushed for an autopsy, which ultimately revealed the 21-year-old had been choked to death.
As a result of the case, police reforms were mandated and Cochran became known for his advocacy of African-Americans in police brutality cases. Years later, he hit headlines once again by serving as O.J. Simpson’s defence attorney during his 1995 murder trial.
Simpson was controversially acquitted of killing his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
Mackie follows in the footsteps of Courtney B. Vance, who won rave reviews for portraying Cochran in the recent hit TV drama series, The People V O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Cochran passed away in 2005.