George Tillman Jr. arrives at Sundance this year with a film significantly more anticipated than his previous two efforts (“Notorious” and “Faster”) in the form of “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete.” The film will tell the story of two kids from Brooklyn who are left to fend for themselves one summer after their mothers are both detained by the authorities. Jennifer Hudson, Anthony Mackie, Jeffrey Wright, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Skylan Brooks (playing Mister), Ethan Dizon (playing Pete) and Jordin Sparks all star in what Sundance have described as “a beautifully observed and tremendously moving film about salvation through friendship and the way transformation sometimes can happen just by holding on long enough.”
Ahead of its world premiere at Sundance later this week the first clip from the movie has shown up online, and it focuses on Brooks’ Mister and his mother played by Hudson. Judging from the movie’s synopsis we’re guessing that this exchange comes from fairly early on in the movie, and the clip is introduced by Tillman, Brooks, Hudson and the movie’s co-producer Alica Keys. Keys has notably also provided the score for the film. The clip seems to be indicative of a very serious drama, and Tillman certainly has a cast involved who can pull that off with aplomb. We’ll leave it to you to decide whether you think Hudson pulls off the "drug-addicted mother" role in this clip, but it seems the movie is already getting some folks noticed.
The film's writer Michael Starrbury has been tapped as the latest writer to tackle the forever-developing, never-shooting "Tupac" biopic. The film, currently without a director, had a script by Steve Bagatourian, Stephen Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson, but is presumably being taken in a different direction now. The production has the support of Mama Tupac, Afeni Shakur, but that doesn't seem to have made any difference in the getting this lensed anytime soon. So just add this hire to the growing chapters about this movie. Whether or not Starrbury is in the right here remains to be seen, but you can view the result of his work on 'Mister Pete' below. [ONTD/Deadline]
