David Oyelowo has been attached to star in and produce Another Day In The Death Of America, the haunting upcoming nonfiction book by The Guardian journalist Gary Younge. It’s based on the true story of the writer who investigated 10 children shot dead in one random day in America, a wrenching journey which led to his book. The Allegiance Theater, headed by Daniel Dubiecki and Lara Alameddine — they have the Cannes-bound Money Monster teed up as its first production — and Eric Eisner of Double E Pictures have acquired film and life rights to the book, which falls squarely in the center of the national discussion over guns and violence in the U.S.
The book focuses on Saturday, 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. And for Younge, what starts out as an assignment full of challenges becomes a personal mission.
The book will be published in September by Faber & Faber in the UK and by Nation Books in the U.S. on October 4.
Allegiance Theater’s Dubiecki (Up In The Air, Juno) and Alameddine are producing this with Oleyowo via his Yoruba Saxon Productions, and Eisner will produce and finance through Double E (Hamlet 2). Tim Crane and Younge serve as executive producers. CAA packaged the rights deal and reps Allegiance Theater, Double E and Oyelowo.
The busy Oyelowo voiced a role in Disney’s upcoming The Jungle Book and is currently shooting Amazon’s Nash Edgerton movie with Charlize Theron. After that comes the Paramount sci-fi thriller God Particle opposite Gugu Mbhta-Raw, and then he segues to off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop in the fall to play the lead in Othello opposite Daniel Craig.
Aside from its first project in TriStar’sMoney Monster starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts and directed by Jodie Foster, Allegiance has been ramping up. In the works is Please Stand By starring Dakota Fanning and Toni Colette, now in post; TWC/Dimension’s Veronica’s Room from scribe Mark Bomback based on Ira Levin’s play; A Head Full Of Ghosts produced with Susan and Robert Downey Jr. for Focus Features; and Gizelle’s Bucket List financed by Oddlot.
Double E is wrapping production on the untitled Grateful Dead documentary being directed by Amir Bar-Lev with Martin Scorsese as executive producer.
Allegiance is also repped by Richard Thompson of Bloom Hergott; Double E by Keith Fleer; and Oyelowo by Inphenate, Hamilton-Hodell and attorney Ira Schreck. The Another Day deal was brokered by Younge’s rep Luke Speed at Curtis Brown UK.
