It looks like the Black Lives Matter movement will soon be represented on the big screen. Yesterday (March 23) The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Fox 2000 beat out several competing studios for the film rights to “The Hate U Give,” a YA novel inspired by the movement to affirm the humanity of Black people. Actress and activist Amandla Stenberg(“Hunger Games”) is already attached to star. George Tillman Jr. (“The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete,” “Soul Food”) will direct.
First time author Angela Thomas touched off an auction between 13 publishing houses after tweeting a literary agent about her work. HarperCollins’ Balzer + Bray imprint paid six figures for the title last month, according to Publishers Weekly. The book—which takes its name from Tupac Shakur’s T.H.U.G. tattoo—follows Starr, a Black 16-year-old who sees a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend.
If her Twitter feed is any indication, Thomas is excited about the movie.