Golden Globe winner Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us, The Predator, Black Panther) is in negotiations to star in The Fence, an upcoming biopic from Fox Searchlight, Variety has confirmed. The project is based on the book by award-winning Boston Globe journalist Dick Lehr (Black Mass).
Brown currently stars on the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning NBC series This Is Us, which earned him the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor. His recent credits include The Predator, Hotel Artemis, Black Panther, and American Crime Story. Upcoming projects include The Rhythm Section, and Waves, starring alongside Lucas Hedges and Taylor Russell.
The Fence follows the true story of Michael Cox, an African-American undercover cop who is mistaken for a suspect and brutally beaten by his own force following one of the largest police chases in Boston history. As Cox seeks answers and justice for what happened, he finds himself on the other side of the “blue wall of silence” as the Boston Police Department aggressively covers it up.
Peter Nicks (The Waiting Room, The Force) will direct the feature, which will be written by Emmy nominee George Pelecanos (Treme, The Wire, The Deuce) and author/screenwriter Dennis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone, Mr. Mercedes, Shutter Island), who initially brought the book to HBO before Fox Searchlight acquired the rights.
Producers for The Fence include Jim Kohlberg and Luke Parker Bowles of Story Mining & Supply Co., and Jeffrey Sharp of Sharp Independent. Lehane, Pelecanos, and Siegfried Harris will serve as executive producers.
