EXCLUSIVE: The Inspection‘s Elegance Bratton has added seven to the cast of his new crime thriller, By Any Means: Emmy nominee Nicole Beharie (The Morning Show), 5x Emmy nom Giancarlo Esposito (Captain America: Brave New World), Josh Lucas (Palm Royale), Oscar nominee David Strathairn (The Luckiest Man in America), Ethan Embry (Scream 7), LisaGay Hamilton (The Dropout), and multiple Tony Award winner LaChanze (The Outsiders).
We’re told Esposito will play Vernon Dahmer, an NAACP leader murdered by the KKK for his work on voter recruitment, though details on the other roles haven’t been disclosed. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg lead the ensemble, as previously announced. Production kicked off in Atlanta yesterday.
Based on the Black List script CI34 by Sascha Penn, with revisions by Theodore Witcher, By Any Means tells the incredible true story of the notorious mafia hitman who was hired by Hoover’s FBI off-the-books and partnered with a young Black special agent to hunt down those responsible for the murders of civil rights leaders in 1966 Mississippi.
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We were first to the story of the project, which hails from Hammerstone Studios, Thunder Road, Freedom Principle, and North.Five.Six. Alex Lebovici is producing for Hammerstone Studios, alongside Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee for Thunder Road Films, Chester Algernal Gordon for Freedom Principle, Stephen Levinson, and Wahlberg under his Closest to the Hole Production banner. Exec producers are Jonathan Oakes for Hammerstone, Michael Rothstein, Samuel Hall, and Warren Goz for North.Five.Six., Adam Kolbrenner, Sascha Penn, Waylen Lin, Zach Zhang, Logan Coles, Lee Broda of LB Entertainment, and Lee Shira and Dorit L. Hakim-Kramer of Siena Film Foundation.
WME Independent and CAA Media Finance are co-repping U.S. rights, with North.Five.Six. handling international sales.
Beharie is repped by UTA and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Esposito by CAA, Sugar23, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Lucas by WME, Liebman Entertainment, and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum; Strathairn by CAA and Ryan Entertainment; Embry by Independent Artist Group and Mosaic; Hamilton by Innovative Artists and Greenlight Management and Production; and LaChanze by Innovative Artists and Untitled Entertainment.
The post Nicole Beharie, Giancarlo Esposito, Josh Lucas, David Strathairn & More Join Elegance Bratton’s Crime Thriller ‘By Any Means’ appeared first on Deadline.
