With her directorial debut Miss Juneteenth, Channing Godfrey Peoples made quite an impression and set herself as a filmmaker to keep a close eye on. It’s taken four years, but she’s finally ready for her sophomore effort on the big screen, and she’s chosen quite a story with a Hell of a 1-2-Punch of lead actors.
Variety reports Peoples’ next film is Otis & Zelma, with John Boyega set to play Otis Redding and Danielle Deadwyler as his wife, Zelma Redding. The story will center on Otis’ superstar rise as one of the country’s greatest singer/songwriters in all of R&B and soul music. His untimely death in 1967 at the young age of 26, just three days after recording his hit “Dock of the Bay”, left Zelma behind to care for their four children. The film “celebrates the 10 short years Otis and Zelma had together, and their eternal love story after his passing. Zelma’s resilience and determination to preserve his musical legacy for the last 56 years fuels her, just as much as Otis’ love for Zelma fueled him.”
Peoples will direct and do revisions on the screenplay by Donnetta Lavinia Grays.
Boyega is best known for his role as Finn in the most recent Star Wars trilogy. Recently, he’s starred in Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit, They Cloned Tyrone, and The Woman King. Deadwyler’s career took off with the Western film The Harder They Fall, and has since seen her in acclaimed dramas such as Till, I Saw the TV Glow, and The Piano Lesson.
