John Boyega joins Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit Riot Film

Image from Just Jared

By Darian Scalamoni

            It was only recently that we covered John Boyega being cast in the Pacific Rim sequel playing the role of Idris Elba’s son, but now we have a report from Deadline in which Boyega has been cast in another high-profile project. He has been cast as the lead in Kathryn Bigelow’s (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) upcoming movie about the Detroit riots.

            The details for the currently untitled Detroit project are only that the film is set to be a crime drama set against the backdrop of the Detroit riots that took place in the summer of 1967. The movie is set to be produced and written with usual collaborator, Mark Boal. The current plan is for the film to be released some time in 2017 which would mark the 50^th anniversary of said riots.

            Boyega will be seen next in James Ponsoldt’s The Circle alongside Emma Watson and Tom Hanks and also will return to a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars: Episode VIII.