A24 Developing ‘Native Son’ Film With ‘Moonlight’ Actor

A24 is on a roll, recently. The film company had an impressive Awards Season last year with “Lady Bird,” “The Florida Project,” and “The Disaster Artist” all factoring heavily in awards discussions. “Lady Bird” actually landed multiple Oscar noms, including Best Picture. It looks like A24 isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

The company just announced that they have acquired the rights to “Native Son,” an adaptation of the classic Richard Wright novel. Not only is A24 announcing the rights acquisition, but they also have a cast and crew lined up for the film. Pulitzer-prize winning playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks, has written the script, and Rashid Johnson will helm the film in what will be his directorial debut.

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“Native Son” tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a young man living in poverty in Chicago’s South Side in the 1930s, who kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. The novel explores poverty and hopelessness that is felt by people living in the inner cities.

“Moonlight” star Ashton Sanders is in final negotiations to play the lead, Bigger Thomas. He’ll be joined by an impressive cast that includes Margaret Qualley (“The Nice Guys”), Nick Robinson (“Love, Simon”), KiKi Layne (“If Beale Street Could Talk”), and Bill Camp (“The Night Of”). Rounding out the crew is cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who is best known for his work on “Black Swan” and “Straight Outta Compton.”

It’s clear that A24 is positioning this as a big film for the company, and hopefully, another strong awards contender. With this cast, and the talent behind the camera, it looks like “Native Son” could truly be something special.

A24 hasn’t announced a release date yet, but with cast and crew set, production should begin shortly, and we could be hearing more from “Native Son” sooner than later.