Mahershala Ali is set to star in and serve as executive producer in the adaptation of Albert Woodfox memoir ‘Solitary’.
Based on the 2019 book, it tells the unforgettable life story of a man who served more than four decades in solitary confinement – in a 6-foot by 9-foot cell, 23 hours a day, in notorious Angola prison in Louisiana – all for a crime he did not commit. That Albert Woodfox survived was, in itself, a feat of extraordinary endurance against the violence and deprivation he faced daily. That he was able to emerge whole from his odyssey within America’s prison and judicial systems is a triumph of the human spirit.
Arrested often as a teenager in New Orleans, Woodfox was finally given a fifty-year sentence for the murder of a white guard during a robbery in 1972 – a crime that he never committed. Without a shred of actual evidence against him, the trial was a sham of justice that gave him life sentences in solitary. Decades passed before Albert gained a lawyer of consequence; even so, sixteen more years and multiple appeals were needed before he was finally released in February 2016.
Also in the news – Quentin Tarantino has a ‘Django Unchained’ sequel in the works
Fox Searchlight is still on the lookout for a director and screenwriter but ‘The Place Beyond The Pines’ Jamie Patricof will produce.
Ali was last seen in ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ and TV’s ‘True Detective’, he also lent his voice to ‘Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse’. His upcoming projects include Sci-Fi thriller ‘Sovereign’ and animated TV Series ‘Invincible’ as Titan alongside Sandra Oh, J.K. Simmons, Seth Rogan and Zazie Beetz.
