Ta-Nehisi Coates will write the script for the story about how a struggling Atlanta middle school participated in a standardized test cheating scandal.
Director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan will reunited once again, after working together on
Fruitvale Station, Creed and
Black Panther.
Their fourth collaboration will be an adaptation of the New Yorker piece
Wrong Answer. Ta-Nehisi Coates will write the script based on Rachel Aviv's article. Her 2014 piece explored the standardized test cheating scandal at Atlanta Public Schools through the lens of one middle school.
Jordan will play math teacher Damany Lewis, who struggles under the pressure imposed on his students and school to meet unrealistic standardized testing scores as part of the No Child Left Behind project. In order to save their jobs and prevent their school from shutting down, he joined in an effort to cheat the scores. The scandal led to 11 teachers being convicted on racketeering charges.
Coogler will produce along with Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner of Plan B. New Regency’s Arnon Milchan also will produce and New Regency will fully finance.
Coates
is the writer of the new
Black Panther comic book series, which is the basis for Coogler’s upcoming Marvel and Disney superhero film. He's repped by UTA.
Jordan was most recently seen in
Creed and will next be seen in
Black Panther. He’s also starring in HBO’s
Fahrenheit 451 with Michael Shannon. He’s repped by WME, MGMT Entertainment and Bloom Hergott.
Coogler, whose
Black Panther hits theaters on Feb. 16, is repped by WME and Cohen & Gardner.
