Chinonye Chukwu’s upcoming film Till about Mamie Till-Mobley’s fight for justice for the brutal murder of her 14-year-old son, Emmett Louis Till, has seven more actors joining the film with Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg, Danielle Deadwyler, and Jalyn Hall. Rounding out the cast are Frankie Faison (Coming to America), Jayme Lawson (The Batman), Tosin Cole (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Kevin Carroll (Blindspotting), Sean Patrick Thomas (Barbershop), John Douglas Thompson (Mare of Easttown) and Roger Guenveur Smith (Dope).
Till follows Mamie Till-Mobley, whose quest for justice for her 14-year-old son Emmett Louis Till became a defining milestone in the civil rights movement, Mamie’s choice to have an open casket at Emmett’s burial and to have David Jackson’s photographs of the funeral published in Jet magazine was motivated by her need to ensure that everyone understood what had happened to her son.
Goldberg will play Emmett’s grandmother Alma Carthan, Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley, and Hall as Emmett Louis Till.
Chukwu also wrote the script based on another draft written by Keith Beauchamp and Michael J P Reilly. Beauchamp undertook extensive research for his award-winning documentary The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, which premiered in 2005.
Faison will portray Mamie Till’s father, John Carthan. Lawson will portray American Civil Rights activist Myrlie Evers. Cole plays the husband of Myrlie Evers; Medgar Evers is also an American Civil Rights activist. Carroll is set to portray Rayfield Mooty, Mamie’s chief advisor, and master strategist.
Thomas will play Gene Mobley in Till, a father figure to Emmett Till and the third husband to Mamie. Thompson will portray Moses Wright, the great-uncle to Emmett Till. Smith will play Dr. T.R. M. Howard, who turned his home into a “black command center” for reporters, witnesses, and investigators searching for evidence of who murdered Emmett Till.
Till is filming in Atlanta, Georgia and has no current release date.
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