A pitch based on the life of Baptist minister Jeffrey Brown has been acquired by Paramount Pictures. The UNTITLED JEFFREY BROWN BIOPIC comes from a pitch by Chadwick Boseman and Logan Coles, who are set to write the project, with the former possibly starring as well.
The film is about Brown, though it’s still unclear how much of his life it will cover. The Reverend is a co-founder of the Boston Ten Point Coalition, serving as its executive director from 2005 to 20013. The group, which centered around faith in the community, did a lot for the “Boston miracle,” where the city saw a 79 percent decline in violent crimes throughout the 1990s. He is also the president of RECAP (Rebuilding Every Community Around Peace), which seeks the end of gang violence through promoting partnerships between faith-based communities, the government, and law enforcement.
Along with writing and possibly starring, Boseman and Coles will produce the film alongside Ivan Reitman and Ali Bell of Montecito Pictures. Bell, who worked with Boseman on Draft Day, originally brought the pitch to Boseman and Coles.
This is not the first collaboration between Boseman and Coles, who recently worked on the upcoming Message from the King together (Boseman starred, Coles co-produced). They are also writing another untitled pitch which has sold to Universal with Marc Platt productions.
If Boseman were to star as Brown, it would be the latest in a long line of biopics for the young star. He has so far appeared as Jackie Robinson in 42, James Brown in Get on Up, and Justice Thurgood Marshall in Marshall, which recently finished production. Most recently, however, he appeared as the popular comic book character Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War and will reprise this role in his own solo film, Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler.
Boseman is repped by Greene & Associates Talent Agency and Management 360.
Coles is repped by Management 360.
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Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor
This news was first reported by Variety.
