Anyone who saw blockbuster Get Out knows director Jordan Peele took a cue or two from celebrated filmmaker, Spike Lee.
The two industry heavyweights are now teaming up for a new project entitled Black Klansman, based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the late 1970’s.
The film has yet to begin shooting, but John David Washington, son of Denzel Washington, is in talks to star according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Lee will direct and produce the movie with Peele producing via his banner Monkeypaw Productions.
A detective in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Stallworth answered an ad in the local newspaper seeking new Klan members. He not only gained membership, but rose through the ranks to become the head of the local chapter.
Stallworth, who is black, 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.
Undercover, the detective managed to sabotage several cross-burnings and other activities of the notorious hate group.
Stallworth wrote about the experience in his 2014 book, Black Klansman, which has been adapted for the screen by Lee and well as writing partners Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmont.
