Chinonye Chukwu to star Whoopi Goldberg, Danielle Deadwyler in new movie

The feature film titled 'Till' centers on the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and his mother's pursuit of justice.

'Clemency' director, Chinonye Chukwu is working on a new drama based on 14-year-old black teenager Emmett Till.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, MGM's Orion Pictures recently confirmed the cast to include Whoopi Goldberg who will star as Till's grandmother Alma Carthan and Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley.

The movie will revisit Till's tragic death and Till-Mobley's insistence on an open casket funeral for her son, a move that sparked the creation of a civil rights movement.

Scripted by Chukwu from a research draft by Keith Beauchamp and Michael J P Reilly, the movie will explore the accounts of Mamie and Till Emmett's cousin Simeon Wright who witnessed Emmett's kidnap.

Till was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 for whistling at a white woman in her family store.

"I’m thrilled to be working with Danielle, a powerhouse of an actor, who will bring a brilliant complexity and groundedness to her portrayal of Mamie. And it is a dream come true to be working with the legendary Whoopi Goldberg, especially in telling this story,” Chukwu shared in a statement.

The filmmaker's record breaking 2019 film 'Clemency' saw her become the first Black woman to receive the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

'Till' is produced by Beauchamp, Barbara Broccoli, Goldberg, Thomas K Levine, Michael J P Reilly and Frederick Zollo.