Lamar Johnson, Aaron Pierre, Marsha Stephanie Blake and Kiana Madeira to star in Clement Virgo’s Family Drama Brother
Deadline is reporting that actors Lamar Johnson (The Hate U Give), Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad), Marsha Stephanie Blake (When They See Us) and Kiana Madeira (Fear Street Trilogy) have been set to star in feature drama Brother, which is filming in and around Toronto.
Written and directed by Clement Virgo (Greenleaf) and based on David Chariandy’s novel, Brother is set against Toronto’s early hip hop scene. The film charts the story of Francis and Michael, sons of Caribbean immigrants, who are maturing into young men during the sweltering summer of 1991. Escalating tensions set off a series of events that change the course of the brothers’ lives forever.
Producing are Virgo and Damon D’Oliveira of Conquering Lion Pictures, along with Aeschylus Poulos and Sonya Di Rienzo of Hawkeye Pictures.
The pic will be distributed in Canada by Elevation Pictures. Foreign sales will be handled by Bron Releasing. Filming will run through October 26. A theatrical release is planned for fall 2022.
Executive producers are Aaron L. Gilbert and Steven Thibault of Bron and Laurie May and Noah Segal of Elevation Pictures.
Cinematography is by Guy Godfree (Maudie) with production design by Jason Clarke (The Book of Negroes), costume design by Hanna Puley, and editing by Kye Meechan (The Book of Negroes).
The movie is being made with the participation of Telefilm Canada, the Canada Media Fund, Ontario Creates and the Shaw Rocket Fund and in association with Bell Media’s Crave and CBC Films.
Veteran director Virgo is best known for directing and co-writing six part miniseries The Book of Negroes, which won 12 Canadian Screen Awards and was nominated for two U.S. Critics Choice TV Awards. His credits also include American Crime, The Wire and OWN drama Greenleaf, on which he was exec-producer and director of the first season.