Exclusive: While still in post with Compelling Pictures on the Warhol-Basquiat film The Collaboration, based on the play he directed in both its debut London run and its Broadway transfer, Kwame Kwei-Armah has closed a deal to direct Mission Hill, a Boston-set crime thriller that will mark a reteam with the producer-financier.
Based on an original screenplay by Michael McGrale (The Following), developed by Compelling, Mission Hill is based on a real-life homicide case that brought Boston to its knees in 1989. It follows an up-and-coming police officer and a seasoned detective racing against time to bring a suspect in before the city implodes over racial tensions.
Compelling Pictures will finance and produce the film which is aiming for a late 2023 start date, pending the ongoing WGA strike and potential other labor actions from SAG-AFTRA and the DGA.
Producing alongside Compelling is Peter Craig — who’s coming off his first Oscar nomination for his contributions to the screenplay of Top Gun: Maverick — as well as Jay Giannone. Exec producers are Kwei-Armah and McGrale, Steven Garcia for Compelling, Max Goldfarb for Redefine Entertainment, Marina Cappi for Marina Studios Productions, Ori Allon and Sal Monaco for White Lodge Productions, Tanner Beard, Lexie Beard, Janice Beard, Dennis Casali and Joshua Kushner. Two-time Emmy nominee Kim Coleman (Lovecraft Country) is handling the film’s casting.
“I’m overjoyed to be working with Compelling Pictures again on this amazing project,” said Kwei-Armah. “I couldn’t put it down when I began to read it. Overjoyed.”
“Mission Hill is a passion project for Jeff, Peter, and myself. Having just had the great pleasure of working with Kwame, we couldn’t be more excited to help bring his vision to life,” stated Compelling Pictures principal Denis O’Sullivan. “It all began with Mike’s riveting script, which has been waiting patiently since 2021 for a great director to take the reins. We’re honored to tell this story of a city that has been seen in movies we love, but rarely from this perspective, and we can’t wait for a global audience to experience this epic, propulsive ride.”
Added producer Craig, “Mike Mcgrale’s script is among the best I’ve ever read – and I’m so happy to see it now in the hands of a talented director like Kwame.”
Kwei-Armah teamed with actors Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope on both the stage and screen versions of the Anthony McCarten-penned The Collaboration, which revolves around the relationship between the iconic artists Warhol and Basquiat, starting in the summer of 1984. Otherwise known for stage productions like The Visitor and One Love: The Bob Marley Musical, he also notably co-wrote and exec produced the veteran thriller Breaking starring John Boyega, which world premiered at Sundance and was released in theaters by Bleecker Street.
Headed by O’Sullivan (Bohemian Rhapsody) and and Jeff Kalligheri (I Wanna Dance with Somebody), Compelling Pictures most recently released the McCarten-scripted Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody, starring BAFTA winner Naomi Ackie, which Sony Pictures took worldwide this past Christmas. Helmed by Kasi Lemmons, the film currently streaming on Netflix landed the #1 spot on the U.S. film chart in its first two weeks on the platform.
Kwei-Armah is repped by CAA, United Agents in the UK, Redefine and attorney Linda Lichter; McGrale by APA, Heroes and Villains, and attorney Will Jacobson; Craig by CAA and Grandview; and Compelling by Evan Krauss of Eisner Llp.
Based on an original screenplay by Michael McGrale (The Following), developed by Compelling, Mission Hill is based on a real-life homicide case that brought Boston to its knees in 1989. It follows an up-and-coming police officer and a seasoned detective racing against time to bring a suspect in before the city implodes over racial tensions.
Compelling Pictures will finance and produce the film which is aiming for a late 2023 start date, pending the ongoing WGA strike and potential other labor actions from SAG-AFTRA and the DGA.
Producing alongside Compelling is Peter Craig — who’s coming off his first Oscar nomination for his contributions to the screenplay of Top Gun: Maverick — as well as Jay Giannone. Exec producers are Kwei-Armah and McGrale, Steven Garcia for Compelling, Max Goldfarb for Redefine Entertainment, Marina Cappi for Marina Studios Productions, Ori Allon and Sal Monaco for White Lodge Productions, Tanner Beard, Lexie Beard, Janice Beard, Dennis Casali and Joshua Kushner. Two-time Emmy nominee Kim Coleman (Lovecraft Country) is handling the film’s casting.
“I’m overjoyed to be working with Compelling Pictures again on this amazing project,” said Kwei-Armah. “I couldn’t put it down when I began to read it. Overjoyed.”
“Mission Hill is a passion project for Jeff, Peter, and myself. Having just had the great pleasure of working with Kwame, we couldn’t be more excited to help bring his vision to life,” stated Compelling Pictures principal Denis O’Sullivan. “It all began with Mike’s riveting script, which has been waiting patiently since 2021 for a great director to take the reins. We’re honored to tell this story of a city that has been seen in movies we love, but rarely from this perspective, and we can’t wait for a global audience to experience this epic, propulsive ride.”
Added producer Craig, “Mike Mcgrale’s script is among the best I’ve ever read – and I’m so happy to see it now in the hands of a talented director like Kwame.”
Kwei-Armah teamed with actors Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope on both the stage and screen versions of the Anthony McCarten-penned The Collaboration, which revolves around the relationship between the iconic artists Warhol and Basquiat, starting in the summer of 1984. Otherwise known for stage productions like The Visitor and One Love: The Bob Marley Musical, he also notably co-wrote and exec produced the veteran thriller Breaking starring John Boyega, which world premiered at Sundance and was released in theaters by Bleecker Street.
Headed by O’Sullivan (Bohemian Rhapsody) and and Jeff Kalligheri (I Wanna Dance with Somebody), Compelling Pictures most recently released the McCarten-scripted Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody, starring BAFTA winner Naomi Ackie, which Sony Pictures took worldwide this past Christmas. Helmed by Kasi Lemmons, the film currently streaming on Netflix landed the #1 spot on the U.S. film chart in its first two weeks on the platform.
Kwei-Armah is repped by CAA, United Agents in the UK, Redefine and attorney Linda Lichter; McGrale by APA, Heroes and Villains, and attorney Will Jacobson; Craig by CAA and Grandview; and Compelling by Evan Krauss of Eisner Llp.
- 6/5/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Longtime APA literary agent Adam Perry has been promoted to Partner.
Perry began his career in the APA mailroom in 2011 and was promoted to agent in 2013. Since then, he has grown his roster of clients to represent such writers and directors as filmmakers Justin Chon (Gook, Blue Bayou, Pachinko) and Akin Omotoso (Rise, Vaya), director Alejandra Marquez Abella (The Good Girls, A Million Miles Away), screenwriters Julia Cox (Nyad), Pat Casey & Josh Miller (Sonic The Hedgehog 1&2, Violent Night), Black List scribe Elyse Hollander (Blond Ambition, Guys and Dolls remake), creator-showrunner Ben Ketai (StartUp), screenwriters Steve Desmond & Michael Sherman (Knock at the Cabin, Harry’s All Night Hamburgers), Amos Vernon & Nunzio Randazzo (Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, Fudged), Co-ep’s Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt (Sweet Tooth, Star Trek Discovery), Co-ep Chuck Hayward (Ted Lasso), SuP Bobak Esfarjani (Alien, Kindred), writing trio Murder Ink. (Black Don’t Camp, Homecoming), screenwriters Cornelius Uliano & Bryan Schulz (Peanuts,...
Perry began his career in the APA mailroom in 2011 and was promoted to agent in 2013. Since then, he has grown his roster of clients to represent such writers and directors as filmmakers Justin Chon (Gook, Blue Bayou, Pachinko) and Akin Omotoso (Rise, Vaya), director Alejandra Marquez Abella (The Good Girls, A Million Miles Away), screenwriters Julia Cox (Nyad), Pat Casey & Josh Miller (Sonic The Hedgehog 1&2, Violent Night), Black List scribe Elyse Hollander (Blond Ambition, Guys and Dolls remake), creator-showrunner Ben Ketai (StartUp), screenwriters Steve Desmond & Michael Sherman (Knock at the Cabin, Harry’s All Night Hamburgers), Amos Vernon & Nunzio Randazzo (Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, Fudged), Co-ep’s Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt (Sweet Tooth, Star Trek Discovery), Co-ep Chuck Hayward (Ted Lasso), SuP Bobak Esfarjani (Alien, Kindred), writing trio Murder Ink. (Black Don’t Camp, Homecoming), screenwriters Cornelius Uliano & Bryan Schulz (Peanuts,...
- 11/3/2022
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Paramount Pictures has picked up Mike McGrale’s original action pitch Witnessville for director Colm McCarthy and Neil Moritz’s Original Films. Details on the project are being kept under wraps. Witnessville is currently in development.
Vanessa Joyce will oversee for Paramount and Tania Landau will oversee for Original who has a first-look deal at the studio. Paramount and Original Films are currently in production on the sequel to the box office hit Sonic the Hedgehog, and Original Films is responsible for previous mega franchises Fast & Furious and 21 Jump Street. Former Ubisoft executive Matt Phelps also serves as producer.
Colm McCarthy is currently directing the pilot for Netflix’s new series, Half Bad, created by Joe Barton and produced by Imaginarium. McCarthy’s first feature The Girl With All The Gifts and his Black Mirror episode “Black Museum” were both nominated for BAFTAs, as...
Vanessa Joyce will oversee for Paramount and Tania Landau will oversee for Original who has a first-look deal at the studio. Paramount and Original Films are currently in production on the sequel to the box office hit Sonic the Hedgehog, and Original Films is responsible for previous mega franchises Fast & Furious and 21 Jump Street. Former Ubisoft executive Matt Phelps also serves as producer.
Colm McCarthy is currently directing the pilot for Netflix’s new series, Half Bad, created by Joe Barton and produced by Imaginarium. McCarthy’s first feature The Girl With All The Gifts and his Black Mirror episode “Black Museum” were both nominated for BAFTAs, as...
- 8/30/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
NBC has put in development drama American Disaster from writer Michael McGrale (CSI: Miami, The Following), director Deran Sarafian (House, The Strain, Hell On Wheels), Muse Entertainment and Universal TV. Written by McGrale, American Disaster centers around a Midwestern community that holds itself together in the wake of a catastrophic tornado. The project is envisioned as a potential anthology series tackling different natural disasters. McGrale co-executive produces…...
- 11/28/2017
- Deadline TV
Exclusive: As its most recent release London Has Fallen just crossed $200M at the worldwide box office, Millennium Films has acquired the time-travel thriller Victim 321 that will be directed by Diego Velasco, helmer of the Venezuelan thriller The Zero Hour. Scripted by The Following writer Michael McGrale, Victim 321 tells the story of a jaded Chicago homicide detective who wakes up in the body of an ex-con three days before his murder. He has 72 hours to unravel the…...
- 5/4/2016
- Deadline
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