Casting News | Will Smith To Play Crime Boss Nicky Barnes In Netflix's 'The Council'

By -

Will Smith will be taking on the role of Harlem crime boss Nicky Barnes in the upcoming Netflix film, The Council.




Nicky Barnes was an American crime boss. Barnes was active during the 1970s in New York. Barnes worked along with the Italian-American Mafia to lead a drug trafficking ring. Barnes was arrested in 1978, given a life imprisonment sentence, and eventually became a federal informant.

Nicky Barnes on the cover of The New York Times Magazine


Official Project Description: “The Council is the never-before-told story of a crime syndicate consisting of seven African-American men who ruled Harlem in the 1970s and early 80s. No ordinary crime syndicate--the men dreamed of a self-sufficient and self-policing African American city-state, funded by revolutionizing the drug game. The movie centers on the Shakespearean court intrigue between The Council’s king, Nicky Barnes, dubbed ‘Mr. Untouchable’ by the New York Times, and all the different members as one unlikely rising protégé emerges.”


Barnes has been portrayed previously on screen. First by Sean Combs in 2005's Carlito's Way: Rise to Power and second by Cuba Gooding Jr. in 2007's American Gangster. Nicky Barnes was also the inspiration for Wesley Snipes' infamous 1991 New Jack City character, Nino Brown.

Peter Landesman is the  writer and there is no attached director at the moment.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Film News: Zendaya as Ellen Craft

By -
Image
In more Zendaya film news! Deadline recently mentioned in an article that Zendaya has signed on to play Ellen Craft in the adaptation of the book, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom: Or, the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery. As of 2016 the project was in development at Alloy Entertainment and Alloy Features, with Suzanne Allain attached to script. The History : In 1848, William and Ellen Craft made an amazingly clever escape from slavery in Macon, Georgia. Ellen, the daughter of a biracial slave and her master used her light skin and features to disguise herself as a white male planter. With her husband William posing as her servant the Crafts traveled to freedom in plain sight. This will be the third period production that   Zendaya will be taking part of. She was first in the 2017 musical, The Greatest Showman . In the musical the actress played one of P. T. Barnum's circus acts; a trapeze artist. News also broke of her casting as Anita Hemmings
Read more

White Water (2015) - A Review

By -
Image
Water White is based on the 2011 children’s book which was co-authored by Michael Bandy and Eric Stein. The film is based on a childhood experience of author Bandy and tells the story of a boy in 1963 Alabama who is obsessed with drinking water from the “Whites Only” fountain. I was drawn to this movie premise because my grandfather told me about his experience as a child in 1950’s Georgia wanting to drink from the white fountain. Like Michael, my grandfather found that the water wasn’t all he thought it would be. The narrative style and tone of the film fit perfectly as it is from the point of view of a 7 year old little boy. Watching the shenanigans that Michael and his older cousin Red get into was hilarious. Amir and Amari O'Neil were perfectly cast as Michael. Although twins they played the character in the same way. I was not even aware that Michael was being played by twins until I looked up the trailer to write this review. I was also impressed by the actin
Read more

Looking Back at Bonanza: Enter Thomas Bowers (1964)

By -
Image
As a child I regularly watched syndicated television shows in historical settings like Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman with my mother. I remembered that some of the episodes featured black characters and dealt with race. I thought it'd be fun to rewatch these episodes and give my thoughts here. The first episode I dug up was the season 5 episode 30 of Bonanza, titled "Enter Thomas Bowers" which aired April 26, 1964. The episode starts with three women discussing a benefit concert for the local Native American tribe. One of the women proudly states that she has gotten the internationally famous singer Thomas Bowers to perform and that he is coming in on the next stagecoach. Only when Thomas Bowers (William Marshall) arrives, he's not exactly who she thought he'd be. Once she realizes that the singer is a black man the entire atmosphere changes.  I have to stop here is point out the irony of them not wanting a blac
Read more