Mary J. Blige to play a police officer in Malik Vitthal’s Body Cam

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Fresh off of receiving an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the film MUDBOUND (pictured above), singer Mary J. Blige (whose song "Mighty River" was also a nominee at this year's Academy Awards ceremony) has signed on to star in the horror thriller BODY CAM, which is in the works at the Paramount Players division of Paramount.

Set to be directed by Malik Vitthal, who made his feature debut with 2014's IMPERIAL DREAMS, BODY CAM began as a spec script written by Richmond Riedel, who was inspired by real world issues. Described as a tonal blend of GET OUT and END OF WATCH, the story centers on 

several LAPD police officers who are haunted by a malevolent spirit that is tied to the murder of a black youth at the hands of two white cops, all of which are caught on a body cam video that was destroyed in a cover-up.

Riedel's script was rewritten by THE PACT writer/director Nicholas McCarthy and John Ridley, who won an Oscar for writing 12 YEARS A SLAVE.

BODY CAM provides Blige with her first lead role. She will be playing "an officer who becomes rocked by visions and begins to investigate the cover-up." 

It sounds like an interesting role for her. I'm not that familiar with Blige; I haven't watched MUDBOUND yet, so I mostly know her from her appearance in ROCK OF AGES, where she sang real well, but I already knew she could do that. She has sold millions of albums and won nine Grammys. Now that she's making a horror movie, it's a guarantee that I'm going to see her work in this one.