“Selma” director Ava DuVernay and star David Oyelowo are teaming with Participant Media to develop a feature film chronicling a love story and murder mystery during the time of Hurricane Katrina.
DuVernay will write, produce, and direct. Oyelowo is in negotiations to produce and star in the untitled project. A start date has not been set.
The project will mark the third collaboration between DuVernay and Oyelowo after “Selma” and Participant’s “Middle of Nowhere,” which won the 2012 Sundance Film Festival best director award for DuVernay. Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King will serve as executive producers.
“Hurricane Katrina is one of the most important social and environmental stories of our time,” said King. “Ava DuVernay has shown herself to be highly skilled at bringing intimacy and contemporary urgency to epic events. We have been looking for the right way to get back in business with Ava, and with David Oyelowo, and are proud to reteam with them on her original idea, which we believe will be a powerful film.”
DuVernay said, “The story we’re interested in will explore the complexities of intimate relationships within times of chaos, while also examining the chaos itself. I’m looking forward to the journey.”
DuVernay is represented by Paradigm and the law firm Del, Moonves, Shaw, Tanaka and Finkelstein.
Oyelowo is repped by CAA, Inphenate and the law firm Hamilton Hodell and Schreck, Rose, Dapello and Adams.
