Kevil Willmott, co-writer for 2018’s hit BlacKkKlansman, is onto the next big project, The Bard. Willmott won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2018 film, sharing the award with director Spike Lee, as well as Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz. Now, he’s directing his own movie about American poet George Moses Horton.
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Horton was the first Black American poet to be published, while he was still enslaved. And The Bard will tell his story. So far, we know the movie will star The Diplomat‘s David Gyasi as Horton, and news just revealed that stars from Game of Thrones and 1923 have also been cast.
1923‘s Julia Schlaepfer and Game of Thrones‘ Michael McElhatton, along with Lincoln’s David Strathairn, have been cast alongside star Gyasi.
The exciting news is all we really have of the film so far, besides the plot telling the story of George Moses Horton and the publications of his poems, a feat punishable by death. Horton wrote love poems and anti-slavery protests, and was assisted by the white wife of a UNC Chapel Hill professor (played by Schlaepfer).
The story is unique and powerful, “which sheds new light on what it means to be ‘free,'” according to the logline. “George’s story underscores the power of the written word — in all aspects of human emotion, but more specifically in how it memorializes the experience of a people long suppressed and ignored.”
“Transcribing personal history is a very timely and important issue, not only as we expose and try to reconcile global historical abuses, but even more so in the face of ongoing attempts to whitewash or bury the truth,” it adds.
Along with BlacKkKlansman, Willmott has written and directed some lesser-known documentaries and historical features, including The 24th (2020), Jayhawkers (2014), and even the mockumentary C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004). With that being said, Willmott has proven himself to be an exceptional writer and director, so it will be exciting to sit down and watch The Bard.
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