Anthony Mackie’s feature directorial debut will be the civil rights biopic Spark
The forthcoming film centers around real-life civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin
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Anthony Mackie is stepping behind the camera for his next movie. The actor will make his feature directorial debut with Spark, per Deadline. The film centers around real-life civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin. Saniyya Sidney, fresh from her breakout role as Venus Williams in King Richard, has signed on to play the role of Colvin.
When Colvin was 15, she was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a crowded, segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. This occurred March 2, 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks’ similar but more widely publicized act of refusal. Parks’ actions cemented her place in the civil rights history books, but Colvin—who was poor, dark-skinned, and became pregnant out of wedlock and was not viewed as the “ideal” symbol for the civil rights movement—has been all but forgotten.
Mackie, who learned Colvin’s story during a trip National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, will be producing Spark with Kellon Akeem, Jason Michael Berman, and Marc Ambrose. The film is set to be a co-production between Mansa Productions, Make It With Gravy Productions, and Mandalay Pictures in association with Ambergreen Entertainment.
Niceole R. Levy has signed on to write the script and the filmmakers have already secured Colvin’s life rights. They’ve also snagged to rights to the book Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose.
“67 years ago, when history glued me to the seat of that bus in Montgomery, I could never have imagined that standing up for my rights could spark a movement that would change the course of history,” Colvin, herself, said in a statement about the forthcoming feature. “It is really an honor to have my story retold, by Mr. Mackie, for future generations to learn about our past so they can move forward knowing that progress is possible, and things do get better. I hope my story will inspire youth to continue to fight for civil rights and human dignity.”
In addition to directing Spark, Mackie is set to star in We Have A Ghost, Desert Warrior, Twisted Metal, Signal Hill, Panopticon, and of course, Captain America 4.
8 Comments
Yeah, this will be the last visit I make to The AV Club. I’m not a Herb, and support the GMG Union.
I could have sworn this guy died
This looks like it could be really cool. It’s interesting to think about how concerned they were with the public image, and how they had to presanitize the issue by having ‘perfect’ Rosa Parks duplicate this protest just to make it somewhat palatable to some of the moderate whites they were trying to win over. And how that maybe led into today, where white America has thoroughly scrubbed off any disagreeable edges from many civil rights heroes so that they can become mouthpieces for maintaining the status quo even after they’re gone. Maybe it would have been better to stick with the poor pregnant girl instead.
Do you think that would’ve worked?
Not necessarily. Even with the benefit of hindsight, I would feel extremely foolish telling anybody back then what they should have done. I’m not trying to say they were wrong to go about it the way they did, but just that the circumstances of this particular bit of history is darkly and depressingly ironic in retrospect.
The thing that made me curious is that I’ve noticed a lot of progressives these days scoff at the idea that image matters when trying to push for justice. Like, back then they would’ve said something like “If the fact that Colvin’s poor, dark-skinned, and pregnant out of wedlock stops them from supporting civil rights they were never gonna support them in the first place.” It may be stupid that the victim not fitting people’s ideal could make a difference in people supporting civil rights, but that’s human nature and I think we should recognize that in how we push for progress.
Mackie be mackin
FINALLY. It’s about time Ms. Colvin gets this kind of recognition. For those interested in her life, she was inspired to take a stand (by taking a seat) from her English teacher who encouraged her to write about the times she was not allowed to try on clothing at shops because Black women weren’t allowed.The fire inside of Claudette was organic and earned. Not to say that Ms. Parks was not inspired also, but she had an entire community behind her (aforethought). And it’s a testament to Colvin’s grace that she never tried to take credit away from another activist.