Jessi Kim July 17th, 2020 - 8:54 AM
British filmmaker Tony Kaye is back on the director’s chair for the upcoming drama feature Civil, which will portray America’s battles with racial justice. Civil is written by Austin Wright and Adam Knox, with Kaye directing the screenplay.
The feature, set in 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, follows two young men from opposite sides of the racial divide in the months leading up to the monumental movement at the time, and discover the real meaning of equality while tragedies from both sides strike.
The project includes producers Tina Treadwell (Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale), former VP of Disney Channel, Dru Davis (Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7), Kim Coleman (BlacKkKlansman) and Joshua Uduma (The Swing of Things). Civil is from Treadwell Entertainment Group & Artistic Fortune Entertainment.
The movie is planning to shoot early next year. No cast members have been announced yet.
Kaye is a six-time Grammy nominated music video director, known for iconic music videos like Soul Asylum’s Runaway Train, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Dani California, Roger Waters’ What God Wants and Help Me, and Johnny Cash’s God’s Gonna Cut You Down. Kaye trail-blazed into the directing realm with the controversial 1998 film American History X starring Edward Norton, who won a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal as a former neo-nazi skinhead who tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same route.
Kaye’s feature credits also extend to the 2006 abortion debate documentary Lake of Fire which was nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards. His most recent narrative feature is the 2011 film Detachment starring Adrien Brody, Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Lucy Liu, Blythe Danner and Bryan Cranston.
