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Sony is moving forward with its remake of the 1972 blacksploitation classic Superfly and most of the cast for the remake from prolific music video director “Director X” has been revealed with Trevor Jackson from the new series grown-ish and Jason Mitchell from Straight Outta Compton and Mudbound as the leads, the Tracking Board confirms.
Jackson will play Youngblood Priest, an updated version of the lead role played by Ron O’Neal in the original film directed by Gordon Parks Jr., while Mitchell will co-star as Eddie, originally played by Carl Lee. They’re joined by Lex Scott Davis as Georgia, Andrea Londo as Cynthia and Jacob Ming-Trent (White Famous) as Fat Freddy and Omar Chapparo as Adalberto.
Director X is the music video directing nom-de-plume for Julien Christian Lutz, a protegé of Hype Williams who has directed videos for The Weekend, R. Kelly, Usher and dozens more.
On top of that, hip-hop artist Future has come on board to produce the film with Joel Silver and Steven R. Shore, son of the original film’s producer Sig Shore, as well as curate the film’s soundtrack. It’s likely to pay homage to the original soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield, which achieved quite a bit of success outside the movie. Shore will act as an exec. producer along with Matthew Hirsch, Hal Sadoff and Aaron Ausch. The screenplay will be written by Alex Tse (Watchmen).
Rapper 21 Savage is also in talks to play a part in the remake of the film which followed an African-American cocaine dealer who wants to get out of the business.
Besides starring on the hit show black-ish and its spin-off grown-ish, Jackson also appeared on the series American Crime, and in the Netflix film Burning Sands, which premiered at Sundance last year.
Mitchell was one of the breakout stars of F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton, playing rapper Eazy-E, then went on to roles in Legendary’s Kong: Skull Island and Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit both released last year. Mitchell also plays a key role in Dee Rees’ Mudbound, which is up for a SAG Ensemble nomination this coming Sunday.
Jackson is repped by CAA and Management 360 while Mitchell is with UTA and Authentic Talent and Literary Management and Ziffren Brittenham. Davis is repped by Gersh and Rough Diamond Management, and Ming-Trent by Talent House and Authentic Talent and Literary Management.
Deadline initially reported on this story.
Edward Douglas | East Coast Editor
