Stories from America’s history are more important than ever as the country grapples with its legacy of racial inequity. Emmett Louis Till’s capture, torture, and lynching in 1955 is widely recognized as one of the most shocking true stories and horrific acts of racism in American history. It will be the subject of the upcoming film “Till.”
Is “Till” based on a true story?
According to Deadline, “Till” will be a dramatization of Emmett Till’s and his mother’s lives based on an extensive study by award-winning filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, who created the 2005 documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” on the subject.
Beauchamp spent a total of 27 years examining the case. The US Justice Department reopened the case in 2004 as a result of Beauchamp’s work, albeit it decided not to pursue federal murder charges (via Justice.gov). Simeon Wright, Emmett Till’s cousin, was an eyewitness to Till’s kidnapping, and Beauchamp worked closely with him. In 2017, Wright passed away.
Overall, “Till” is shaping out to be a hard-hitting drama that, despite its 1950s and 1960s setting, could not be more contemporary.
Vulture reports that “Till” will have a limited theatrical release on October 7, 2022. MGM’s Orion Pictures and Fred Zollo Productions are collaborating to make the picture. United Artists Releasing will be the distributor.
Chinonye Chukwu will direct “Till” from her own screenplay, which was based on a scenario written by Ken Beauchamp and Michael J. P. Reilly, according to Deadline on August 27, 2020. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, production began in September 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Danielle Deadwyler will play Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett Till’s mother, in “Till,” according to Deadline. Deadwyler’s breakthrough role was LaQuita “Quita” Maxwell on the Oprah Winfrey Network primetime soap opera “The Haves and the Have Nots.”She also had recurring roles on the Spectrum series “Paradise Lost” and HBO’s “Station Eleven.”
EGOT-winner Alma Carthan, Emmett’s grandma, will be played by Whoopi Goldberg. Emmett Till will be played by Jayln Hall.
Frankie Faison plays Alma’s husband John, Jayme Lawson plays Myrlie Evers-Williams, a civil rights activist and journalist, Tosin Cole plays murdered civil rights activist Medgar Evers, Kevin Carroll plays union leader Rayfield Mooty, Sean Patrick Thomas plays Mamie’s husband Gene Mobley, John Douglas Thompson plays Emmett’s uncle Moses Wright, and Roger Guenveur Smith plays civil rights leader Dr. T. R. M. Howard.
The film “Till” centers around the murder and his mother, Mamie Till-subsequent Mobley’s efforts to expose the case and obtain justice for her son.