Selma star David Oyelowo is attached to produce and star in gun violence drama Another Day in the Death of America.
First reported by Deadline, it’s understood the button-pressing feature will be based on the non-fiction novel by Gary Younge, a journalist for The Guardian who began work on the expose shortly after a heinous mass shooting occurred back in 2013. What made this event so disturbingly remarkable was the fact that, despite 10 children being shot dead, no reports were aired on national news.
It was, in effect, just another day in America. As Deadline notes, the shooting took place on November 23, 2013, when “10 children were shot dead — the youngest was 9 and the oldest was 19. None made the national news, meaning it was just another day in America, where on average seven children and teens are killed by guns daily. Younge picked the date at random, searched for their families, and tells the stories not of how they died but how they lived. What emerges is a sobering, searing portrait of youth and guns in contemporary America.”
Daniel Dubiecki and Lara Alameddine – who are currently overseeing Jodie Foster’s financial thriller Money Monster – of Allegiance Theater have acquired film rights to Another Day in the Death of America. As timely a topic as ever in US politics, the near-omnipresent threat of gun violence continues to pervade social and political life, and it’ll be fascinating to see how Oyelowo’s new project aligns the tragic story with deeper questions of gun policing and the implications those armaments have.
Another Day in the Death of America is expected to build towards a production start in late 2016. Look for Gary Younge’s non-fiction book to be published across the United Kingdom and the States on October 4.