Although it’s not addressed in Deadline’s report, as far as we’re concerned the real question here is: How did a Superfly remake get this far without Michael Kenneth Williams involved? Regardless, we’re pleased to report that the The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, The Night Of, and Hap And Leonard veteran is bringing his crime-drama expertise to Sony’s upcoming Superfly remake.
Williams will be playing Scatter, an ex-drug dealer now running a popular restaurant who helps title character Youngblood Priest (Grown-ish’s Trevor Jackson) pull off one last deal so he can leave the business, too. (Julius Harris played the role in Gordon Parks Jr.’s 1972 original.)
Watchman screenwriter Alex Tse wrote the script for the blaxploitation remake, with music-video veteran Director X—who did Drake’s “Hotline Bling” and Kendrick Lamar’s “King Kunta” videos, among dozens more—set to direct. Blaxplotiation-inspired projects seem to be a growing trend this year: Although the film itself didn’t quite live up to that promise, the promotional campaign for Screen Gems’ Proud Mary leaned heavily on Pam Grier nostalgia, and, as Samuel L. Jackson confirmed in our Random Roles interview with him, a third iteration of Shaft is currently in the works at New Line for a 2019 release. (The first Shaft reboot was released in 2000.) Even blaxploitation parodies seem to be coming back in vogue, as Michael Jai White has been teasing a new live-action Black Dynamite adventure on social media.