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EXCLUSIVE: After seeing his first narrative feature The Inspection garner rave reviews in 2022, director Elegance Bratton is getting back behind the camera for By Any Means, a true-life crime thriller starring Oscar nominees Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter) and Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction) for Hammerstone Studios, Thunder Road, Freedom Principle, and North.Five.Six.
Based on the Black List script CI34 from Sascha Penn (Raising Kanan, Creed II) with revisions from Bratton and Ted Witcher, By Any Means is being introduced to buyers at the upcoming AFM by Michael Rothstein and Samuel Hall’s North.Five.Six., which is handling international sales.
Pic is based on the incredible true story of the notorious mafia hitman who was hired by Hoover’s FBI off-the-books and partnered with a young Black special agent to hunt down those responsible for the murders of civil rights leaders in 1966 Mississippi.
Production is set to kick off in March, with Alex Lebovici producing for Hammerstone Studios, alongside Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee for Thunder Road Films, Chester Algernal Gordon for Freedom Principle, Stephen Levinson, and Wahlberg under his Closest to the Hole Production banner. Exec producers are Jonathan Oakes for Hammerstone, Michael Rothstein, Samuel Hall, and Warren Goz for North.Five.Six., Adam Kolbrenner, Sascha Penn, Waylen Lin, Zach Zhe, and Logan Coles.
WME Independent and CAA Media Finance will co-represent U.S. rights.
Coming off of roles in films like Arthur the King and The Family Plan, a popular action comedy for Apple, Wahlberg earlier today signed on for a sequel to the latter, which he’ll also produce. Next to be seen in a villainous turn in the Lionsgate action thriller Flight Risk directed by Mel Gibson, which hits theaters on January 24, his other upcoming projects at the moment are Shane Black’s Amazon crime thriller Play Dirty and the action comedy Balls Up for Amazon and Skydance, in which he stars opposite Paul Walter Hauser.
After winning multiple Emmys for his work on shows like This Is Us and American Crime Story, Brown landed his first Oscar nomination earlier this year for his supporting turn in Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction. Also known for projects like Black Panther and Waves, he’ll soon be seen starring in Hulu’s drama series Paradise, created by This Is Us‘s Dan Fogelman.
Bratton’s debut narrative feature The Inspection, based on his real-life experiences as a U.S. Marine, premiered at TIFF, closed the New York Film Festival, and released through A24 in November 2022. Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union starred. One of the directors on FX’s buzzy horror drama Grotesquerie, he’s also known for Viceland docuseries My House and is in post on feature doc Move Ya Body. Bratton also co-runs the production company, Freedom Principle, alongside his producing partner Chester Algernal Gordon.
Seeing its horror thriller Don’t Move, starring Kelsey Asbille and Finn Wittrock, top Netflix’s charts over the course of this past week, Hammerstone Studios is currently in post on Kornel Mundruczó’s At the Sea starring six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams. The company is perhaps best known for exec producing Zach Cregger’s breakout horror film Barbarian, starring Bill Skarsgård and Justin Long, in 2022.
Wahlberg is repped by WME, Leverage Management, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Brown by CAA, JWS Entertainment, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Bratton by WME, 2AM, and Granderson Des Rochers; and Penn by CAA, Lit Entertainment Group, and attorney Gordon Bobb.
