King of Harlem
It would seem that if the film was directed by Ridley Scott, and the main roles were played by Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Josh Brolin, then it should leave a noticeable mark in the history of cinema. However, "Gangster" came out ten years ago, but the mention of it is rarely seen in the press. And yet Chris Brancato, one of the creators of Husky, remembered Scott's picture and decided to make a television prequel to it.Recall that "Gangster" tells the story of the Harlem criminal Frank Lucas, who in 1968 was engaged in the direct supply of heroin from Southeast Asia to New York. Soon Lucas was able to build his own empire, which is why his illegal business attracted the attention of the authorities. The film even earned several Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. The new series, developed by Brancato and called The Godfather of Harlem *, will focus on Bumpy Johnson, Frank's crime boss and mentor. In Scott's film, he is portrayed by Clarence Williams III, and in the television prequel, Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) will play Bumpy.  Brancato himself describes his project as follows:“Harlem, 60s. A gangster named Bumpy Johnson was close friends with Malcolm X, so the show will tell about the clash of two worlds - criminals and civil rights fighters ”. According to the showrunner, the script for the series is already ready, and negotiations are now underway with rapper Kendrick Lamar to write the music. Once everything is done, the show will be submitted for review by Netflix, Hulu and Amazon executives. Chris Brancato has already worked with Netflix during the filming of Husky, but left work on the drama after the first season to develop projects for ABC Studios. True, the first pancake turned out to be lumpy: the biblical saga "Kings and Prophets" was closed after only three episodes were released. As for Whitaker, he will appear next year in Black Panther and the crime thriller Labyrinth. * - preliminary translation. The Topic of Article: King of Harlem. |
