MGM’s Orion Pictures’ film Till has rounded out its cast. Frankie Faison, Jayme Lawson, Tosin Cole, Kevin Carroll, Sean Patrick Thomas, John Douglas Thompson and Roger Guenveur Smith have boarded the project.
They all join previously cast leads Danielle Deadwyler, Whoopi Goldberg and Jalyn Hall as Emmett Till,
READ: Bokeem Woodbine, Raul Castillo Join Gabrielle Union and Jeremy Pope in The Inspection
Till tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley (Deadwyler), whose pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son Emmett Louis Till (Hall) became a galvanizing moment that helped lead to the creation of the civil rights movement. As Time Magazine reported, “…thanks to a mother’s determination to expose the barbarousness of the crime, the public could no longer pretend to ignore what they couldn’t see.” Mamie’s decision to have an open casket at Emmett’s funeral, and to have Jet magazine publish David Jackson’s funeral photos, was driven by her motivation to ensure people everywhere knew what had happened to her son. Goldberg is set to portray Till’s grandmother, Alma Carthan.
Chinonye Chukwu is directing and wrote the script based on a previous draft by Keith Beauchamp and Michael J P Reilly. The project is based in part on Beauchamp’s original research for his award-winning 2005 documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till.”
READ: Mo Mcrae, Callie Hernandez and JJ Soria Join Season 2 of The Flight Attendant As Series Regulars
Faison will portray Mamie Till’s father, John Carthan. Cole and Lawson will portray Medger and Myrlie Evers Carroll is set to portray Rayfield Mooty. Thomas is Gene Mobley. Thompson is Moses Wright. Smith will play Dr. T.R. M. Howard.
The film is produced by Beauchamp, Barbara Broccoli, Goldberg, Thomas K. Levine, Reilly and Frederick Zollo.
Till is currently filming in Atlanta.