Lionsgate has been trying to shove legal drama Tulia through development hell for ages now. It had the project all set up to go with Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in the cast and Carl Franklin calling the shots.
But a spanner was chucked well and truly into the works after Franklin left the film earlier this year, leaving the film without a director. Fortunately, John Singleton has now stepped into the breach, and will tackle the tale of a lawyer who tries to expose the dodgy drug convictions of the titular Texas town. How dodgy? Try 10% of the black population of the place thrown in the slammer.
It’s all true – and based on Nate Blakeslee’s tome Tulia: Race. Cocaine And Corruption In A Small Texas Town, and was adapted by Karen Croner. Singleton should be shooting before the end of the year.
