Word has come down the wire that IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK star Stephan James is poised to join Russell Crowe in Paramount's thriller AMERICAN SON, which is based on French director Jacques Audiard's 2009 crime drama A PROPHET. According to Deadline, James is in final negotiations to star. Should the actor sign on the dotted line, James will play a man in the film who, after falling under the control of a ruthless mobster (Crowe) while in prison, builds a multiracial crime syndicate, takes down his mentor, and earns a place for his crew alongside the Italian and Russian mafias.
Directing the new version of Audiard's film for Paramount is BLUE STORY helmer Andrew “Rapman” Onwubolu. Rapman will shoot from a script penned by Dennis Lehane, with Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe producing via Original Film.
Audiard's A PROPHET centers around an Arab man (Tahar Rahim) who's sent to a French prison, where he rises through the ranks to become a mafia kingpin. Audiard's film won the Grand Prix at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and had been nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film at the 2010 Oscars, only to be beaten by Juan José Campanella's THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES.
Since playing Alonzo 'Fonny' Hunt in Barry Jenkins' IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, James played the role of Michael in 2019's 21 BRIDGES, the part of Rayshawn in the #FREERAYSHAWN television series, and stars as Walter Cruz in Amazon Prime Video's HOMECOMING. His next film is titled RAY PEACE, which is directed, written, and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor. So, do you think Stephan James is going places? It certainly looks that way to me.