According to Variety.com, Whoopi Goldberg has teamed up with fellow producers Keith A. Beauchamp and Frederick Zollo to make a feature film entitled “Till” about the racially-motivated murder of Emmett Till in 1955.
Till, 14, was tortured and lynched on Aug. 28, 1955, after reportedly whistling at a white woman while visiting relatives in Money, Miss. His murder helped ignite what became the Civil Rights Movement.
“Till” will be based on Beauchamp’s 2004 documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till,” and Simeon Wright’s “Simeon’s Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till.” Beauchamp’s film led the U.S. government to reopen the Till case in 2007.
Producers are launching a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for the production, and the film is slated to go into production early next year.
“Here is a story that is as much a part of American history as the Boston Tea Party and may stand as the greatest argument for getting rid of sanctioned racism,” Goldberg said. “Emmett Till’s brutal death at the hands of ignorant, brutish people exposes the Jim Crow-era South that gave the implicit OK to uphold that kind of racism without any real fear of repercussions. Today, the return of rampant, unchallenged racism cries out for the telling of Emmett Till’s story again.”
Zollo produced the civil rights-based dramas “Mississippi Burning” (1988) and “Ghosts of Mississippi” (1996). Goldberg starred as Myrlie Evers, wife of murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers, in the latter film.
Two other Till projects were announced in May: Skyland Pictures and FireRock Bay Pictures are producing an Emmett Till movie based on the play “The Face of Emmett Till,” and Shatterglass Films and Chaz Ebert are developing a film based on the book “Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America.” Jay Z and Will Smith are also developing an HBO miniseries based on Till’s life with writer/producer Aaron Kaplan.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)
Till, 14, was tortured and lynched on Aug. 28, 1955, after reportedly whistling at a white woman while visiting relatives in Money, Miss. His murder helped ignite what became the Civil Rights Movement.
“Till” will be based on Beauchamp’s 2004 documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till,” and Simeon Wright’s “Simeon’s Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till.” Beauchamp’s film led the U.S. government to reopen the Till case in 2007.
Producers are launching a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for the production, and the film is slated to go into production early next year.
“Here is a story that is as much a part of American history as the Boston Tea Party and may stand as the greatest argument for getting rid of sanctioned racism,” Goldberg said. “Emmett Till’s brutal death at the hands of ignorant, brutish people exposes the Jim Crow-era South that gave the implicit OK to uphold that kind of racism without any real fear of repercussions. Today, the return of rampant, unchallenged racism cries out for the telling of Emmett Till’s story again.”
Zollo produced the civil rights-based dramas “Mississippi Burning” (1988) and “Ghosts of Mississippi” (1996). Goldberg starred as Myrlie Evers, wife of murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers, in the latter film.
Two other Till projects were announced in May: Skyland Pictures and FireRock Bay Pictures are producing an Emmett Till movie based on the play “The Face of Emmett Till,” and Shatterglass Films and Chaz Ebert are developing a film based on the book “Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America.” Jay Z and Will Smith are also developing an HBO miniseries based on Till’s life with writer/producer Aaron Kaplan.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)
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I would love to be apart of this movie. A sad part of history but it showed all America just how brutal racism could be.
May God Bless us all. The horrible murder of Emmit Till is a carbon copy of America at that time. For one to highlight such an awful act of SAVAGERY only perpetuates the hate and decisiveness of American people. It’s a giving of how Blacks/African Americans are- and have been the victims of violence by the hands of white folk. However, there are so many contructive and inspiring African/Black folk that can be brought to life by way of todays media. As an exampe, Dr. Charels Drews contribution to the WORLD ought to be considered as an informative and uplifting story to tell. To each their own. I’m not suggesting to forget about ALL the horrible acts Savagery inflicted on us by a white lead systemic way of life in America, during todays height of racial tension in America- the timing for an Emmit Till murder story in my opinion would inflame negative emotions in the Black/African American community.