Hollywood actor Jamie Foxx is teaming up with Amy Pascal to produce a new TV series, based on a soon to be released race-related crime novel Darktown by Thomas Mullen, the author of the popular book, The Last Town on Earth.
While the book is only set for release in September this year, before it even hits the bookstore shelves or Kindle screens, there were reportedly five TV studios competing over the story as a TV show, with Sony Pictures Television landing the rights to Darktown.
If it does, indeed, go ahead, the TV series will be executive produced by Jamie Foxx with Amy Pascal, and the producer will be Rachel O’Connor of Pascal Pictures.
Amy Pascal & Jamie Foxx team for 1940s TV crime drama about race ‘Darktown’ https://t.co/mFZeftNki5 pic.twitter.com/m5EVqjQpSz
— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) January 14, 2016
As reported by AJC.com , it is definitely an interesting story. Darktown is set in Atlanta back in 1948 and is about the hiring of the city’s first black police officers . According to the story, they were hired due to pressure from above, but the move was met with vitriol by the white cops in Atlanta and was even met with distrust by their own African American community.
This was a time and culture when black people were still made to sit at the back of the bus, and the new police officers were also treated as second class. In the book, and obviously the upcoming series, the black cops are only allowed to patrol in black neighborhoods and are forbidden to arrest white suspects. They are also not allowed to drive squad cars or use the police headquarters and are forced to work out of the basement of a local gym.
The story chronicles the case of a black woman who is found beaten to death after last being seen traveling in a car driven by a white man. The case then deepens the already huge and controversial divide within the police department.
The story caught Jamie Foxx’s interest, and according to the publisher, Simon & Schuster, the novel itself is an intricately plotted crime saga that explores the timely issues of race, law enforcement, and the “uneven scales of justice” still so prevalent in many ways today. The story depicts a world on the cusp of great change and involves city politics and race relations as well as the topic of police corruption in Atlanta.
According to Deadline , Pascal and Foxx are reportedly still looking for a writer for Darktown , which comes under the year-old first-look deal between Pascal Pictures and Sony TV. Plans for the show are still in the very early stages, so it is currently unknown when it will finally hit the little screen.
#JamieFoxx ‘s possible ‘Darktown’ TV series… https://t.co/UY7xzBD9mc
— Danielle (@daniellemcxs) January 20, 2016
Meanwhile Jamie Foxx is in the news a lot at the moment. As reported on The Inquisitr , he recently proved himself to be something of a hero, as he pulled a driver from a burning car, saving the man’s life . He then called in the emergency services to the scene.
The accident reportedly happened close to the actor’s Hidden Valley property. When asked about his involvement, Foxx said he feared the car would explode and didn’t think twice about saving the driver, who was later arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.
#darktown coming Sept. 2016 from @AtriaBooks @Mullenwrites #crimefiction #books pic.twitter.com/Qu4TbLqXPz
— Paul Olsewski (@paulieolsewski) January 15, 2016
In other recent Inquisitr news, the comments made by Jamie Foxx and Quentin Tarantino at the recent Hollywood Film Awards about police brutality are also currently going viral and tend to match in well with Foxx’s new and exciting project with the Darktown series.
[Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for The Weinstein Company]