Posted by | Cyrena Rose
Oscar winner Octavia Spencer is in various stages of negotiations to star in Fruitvale, a timely indie drama being produced by Forest Whitaker under his Significant Productions banner.
Fruitvale is the story of Oscar Grant, a young black man detained on New Year’s Day 2009 by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police and shot in the back and killed. The event was captured by many cell phone cameras, with the ensuing trial and its verdict causing protests and riots. Fruitvale is the name of the station where the event took place.
If negotiations go as planned, Michael B. Jordan (“Friday Night Lights,” “The Wire,” “Chronicle” and “Red Tails”) will also star in the film playing Oscar Grant; Spencer will play his tough and protective mother.
Ironically, the project is coming together during the controversy surrounding the February 26th death of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who was shot and killed by a local neighborhood watch officer in Sanford, Florida.
Production is slated to start this July in Northern California for Fruitvale.
Aside from Fruitvale, Spencer’s post-Oscar-win schedule is as follows: She is filming Diablo Cody’s untitled directorial debut that stars Russell Brand and Julianne Hough, in which Spencer plays a blackjack-dealing hipster lounge singer. From there she goes to the sci-fi movie Snowpiercer, then to Smashed, in which she will play a recovering alcoholic. Kudos Octavia!
Source: The Hollywoodreporter.com