The film adaptation of The Walter Dean Myers novel, Monster, hit Sundance with a bang a year and a half ago, but finally this masterpiece has been acquired and not only been given a release date but also a new name!
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Published by Harper Collins, the novel was nominated for the 1999 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2000, the same year it was named for the Coretta Scott King Award Honor.
The plot follows Steve Harmon, a seventeen-year-old honor student who is accused and convicted of felony murder, a crime he did not commit in a modern day struggle against racism.
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The film was produced by BRON Studios, Tonik Productions and Get Lifted Film Co. in association with Charlevoix, Red Crown and Creative Wealth Media. The screenplay was written by Radha Blank, Colen C. Wiley and Janece Shaffer, all of whom worked on relatively small projects before this massive hit. The film director wasn’t even all that experienced: Anthony Mandler directed music videos for Jennifer Lopez, Jay-Z, and Selena Gomez, and Monster was his debut feature film.
The cast was top-notch.
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Kelvin Harrison Jr, known for playing Simon in The Birth of a Nation and Travis in It Comes at Night, portrays the Steve Harmon.
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Jeffrey Wright, known as James Bond’s American counterpart Felix Leiter in Casino Royale, portrays Steven’s father.
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The case also featured Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson who portrayed Steven’s mother.
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Jennifer Ehle, known for playing Jessica in Zero Dark Thirty, portrays Steven’s lawyer Kathy O’Brien.
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Tim Blake Nelson, know for playing Delmar O’Donnell in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, portrays Steven’s film club mentor George Sawicki, who serves as a character witness
Deadline has revealed that Endeavor Content negotiated the deal that helped for Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures to buy the film. The movie has been re-titled All Rise.
Byron Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Entertainment Studios told Shadow and Act:
“This is a very important and timely film which inspires and reminds us that together we have the power to make the necessary positive changes…This excellent story shows us how every day, African-Americans are positioned to fail in the schoolroom, the boardroom, and the courtroom long before we bleed to death in the streets.”
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