Prolific filmmaker Antoine Fuqua is turning his passion project into a feature film. It’s being reported that the Training Day director is developing a film about Black Panther leader Fred Hampton.
According to Variety, the untitled Fred Hampton story is based off of Jeffrey Haas’ book The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther, and was then adapted by Chris Smith.
Hampton was an outspoken Black Panther and had a large following in his hometown of Chicago. On Dec. 4, 1969, 21-year-old Hampton was shot and killed while laying in bed with his pregnant fiancee during a raid performed by Chicago police and the FBI. Hampton’s death was later ruled a justifiable homicide and his surviving fiancee was awarded $1.85 million in 1982.
Fuqua’s forthcoming Hampton film will take place at Sony as part of Fuqua’s first look deal. Along with Training Day, which earned Washington his second Academy Award, Fuqua also directed The Magnificent Seven Southpaw, Olympus Has Fallen, and Brooklyn’s Finest.