Craig Brewer wowed everyone a few years ago with Hustle and Flow, and Lord knows he gained some ardent followers with Black Snake Moan last year (I think more than a few of them are lurking on this here site). So it’s always good news to hear he’s back to work, and the newest project he’s working on sounds particularly exciting. ComingSoon.net says he’ll adapt a book by sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh, called Gang Leader for a Day. And yeah, the idea is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Awesome!
Venkatesh, a Columbia sociology professor, researched the Black Kings crack dealing gang in Chicago for several years. At a certain point he was given the responsibility of calling all the shots, thus the title. Brewer wrote and directed his first two films but Michael Caleo, a Sopranos veteran, will write the screenplay this time around. Critics of Black Snake Moan’s plot may be happy to hear that.
Brewer so convincingly portrayed the world of a Memphis pimp in Hustle & Flow that it’s exciting to see what he can do with this story. He’s got a unique voice, that’s for sure, and while this book sounds like a pretty standard journalistic effort, I think he’ll definitely bring something unusual to the table.
