Rising star Jonathan Majors is now in talks to star in the latest film from Aaron Sorkin.
Next for Sorkin is The Trial of the Chicago 7, which he is writing and directing. It “follows the infamous 1969 trial of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy and more, arising from the counterculture protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The trial transfixed the nation and sparked a conversation about mayhem intended to undermine the U.S. government.”
Majors would star in the film as Bobby Seale, one of the founders of the Black Panther Party. Per Deadline, who exclusively reported Majors’ casting, “Seale was far and beyond the worst-treated defendant; he was refused a legal representative and bound and gagged during the hearing. He was given a mistrial and was separated from the other seven after being bound in front of the gallery and jury.”
Jonathan Majors attends the Build Series to discuss ‘White Boy Rick’ at Build Studio on September 12, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jim Spellman/Getty Images)
If the deal closes, he will join Sascha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne, already attached to the project as activists Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden.
Majors is on the cusp of a major breakout moment. After starring in last year’s Hostiles and this summer’s White Boy Rick, he portrays the lead role opposite Jurnee Smollett-Bell in HBO’s upcoming series Lovecraft Country from Jordan Peele, J.J. Abrams and Misha Green. He’ll also appear soon in March’s Captive State, A24 flick The Last Black Man in San Fransisco, the dystopian film Gully and the TIFF-selected BBC film Out of Blue.
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