Recent Oscar winner Octavia Spencer is close to joining a hot-button film about the 2009 killing of a man in the Bay Area — at the hands of police.
Forest Whitaker is producing, with newcomer Ryan Coogler writing and directing. Fruitvale tells the story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old black man who was detained in 2009 by Bay Area police and ultimately shot in the back and killed, the latter of which was caught by many a cellphone camera. The February death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin is presumed to have had an impact on Fruitvale coming together so quickly.
Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, TV’s Friday Night Lights) is in talks to play Grant, with Spencer portraying his mother. The actress, who earlier this year took home an Academy Award for her performance in The Help, has been hard at work on forthcoming movies, including the sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer and Diablo Cody‘s still-untitled directorial debut, both out next year.
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[THR]
