Anthony Mackie has signed on to play famous lawyer Johnnie Cochran in a film focused on one of the most publicized police brutality cases in American history, Varietyreported Tuesday.
The untitled film centers upon Cochran's pursuit of justice following the 1981 death of a young college student while under custody of the Signal Hill Police Department. Mackie will also produce the film, alongside Jason Spire (Mojave) and Robbie Brenner. David McMillan, most known for his work on Lucifer, will pen the script.
Cochran, who's been back in headlines this year thanks to the enormous success of FX's take on the O.J. Simpson trial, was crucial in bringing the case to the national forefront after convincing the family to order an autopsy. A civil rights suit was eventually filed in the mysterious death of Ron Settles, just 21 years old at the time of what authorities claimed was a suicide.
That suit was settled in 1983 for nearly $1 million, according to an archived New York Times article. Johnnie Cochran, who represented the Settles family at the time of the suit, cited the settlement as a "substantial measure of justice."
Mackie can next be seen in Captain America: Civil War, returning as Sam Wilson a.k.a. Falcon. He's also joining Bryan Cranston in HBO's All the Way as Martin Luther King Jr., debuting May 21.
