Spike Lee and Jordan Peele Are Teaming Up For A New Thriller
Veteran film director Spike Lee has teamed up with box office record setting director Jordan Peele to create an epic thriller entitled Black Klansman.
Based on Ron Stallworth’s account of answering a 1978 newspaper ad for new Ku Klux Klan members, the upcoming film will detail how Stallworth, an African-American man, “not only gained membership, but rose through the ranks to become the head of the local chapter.”
Stallworth chronicled his journey in the KKK in the 2014 book Black Klansman where he explained how he “was able to gather all sorts of intelligence by pretending to be a white supremacist on the phone or via other forms of correspondence but sent a white fellow officer in his place for any in-person meetings.”
Baller’s star John David Washington is reportedly in negotiations for the film’s lead role.
Both Lee, who will direct and produce the film, and Peele, who will also serve as a producer, have been known for the depiction race in their films. Peele’s Get Out has been dubbed the highest grossing debut of an original screenplay while Lee’s Malcolm X was nominated for two Academy Awards while his Do The Right Thing and Jungle Fever have been heralded cult classics.