Actors Mahershala Ali and Tom Hardy are reportedly in talks to join the cast of Black Bear’s 77 Blackout, a new crime thriller being directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga from a script by Frank John Hughes.
The film will be introduced to potential buyers at this week’s Cannes marketplace, according to an exclusive report by Deadline.
As its title implies, the movie unfolds during the chaotic New York City blackout of 1977 as a group of rogue police officers plot to rob three of the world’s most notorious criminal groups: the Hong Kong Triads, the Italian Mafia, and the Harlem Mob. Ali is reportedly in talks to play the role of officer Ray Butler while Hardy would play officer Eddie Boyle.
Ali, who won Oscars for Moonlight and Green Book, recently was seen as the star of Leave the World Behind. Hardy’s credits include The Dark Night Rises, Inception, Mad Maxx: Fury Road, The Revenant, and the Venom franchise. He also had a cameo role in Spider Man: No Way Home.
Fukunaga’s award-winning student film Victoria Para Chino premiered at Sundance in 2004. The Japanese American filmmaker directed the 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die. His credits also include Beasts of No Nation, Jane Eyre, the first season of True Detective, and the Maniac series for Netflix.
Coincidentally, both Fukunaga and Hardy were born during the “blackout summer” of 1977. Born in Oakland, California, Cary Fukunaga was three days old when the blackout shrouded New York City in darkness. Hardy was born in London two months later. Fukunaga and Ali also share some coincidences: Both were born in Oakland and studied at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Producers of 77 Blackout are Charles Royen and Madison Weireter for Atlas Entertainment and William Green and Aaron Ginsburg for The Cut. No release date has yet been projected for the film.