Antoine Fuqua speaks onstage during CinemaCon 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. April 12 2016.
Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez for Getty Images
Antoine Fuqua, director of Training Day, The Equalizer, and The Magnificent Seven, is developing a movie based on the life of Black Panther activist Fred Hampton, Deadline reported last week.
The film is part of a first look deal the director's company Fuqua Films signed with Sony Pictures. The script is written by Chris Smith, based on Jeffrey Haas’s book The Assassination Of Fred Hampton: How The FBI And The Chicago Police Murdered A Black Panther.
At age 20, Fred Hampton was the deputy chairman of the Black Panther Party's national organization and the leader of the black activist group's Illinois chapter. On December 4 1969, Hampton was shot to death while he was sleeping in a raid coordinated by the FBI and Chicago police. The killing was ruled a justifiable homicide, but Hampton's relatives filed a civil suit a year later, resulting in a $1.85 million settlement in 1982.
Fuqua is currently at work on The Equalizer 2 with Denzel Washington. Production is scheduled to begin this fall for a release date of September 14, 2018.
Below, watch Democracy Now! discuss Hampton's life and legacy with Jeffrey Haas and Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush.