Nate Parker Returns: Cop Drama ‘Black & Blue’ to Be Director’s First Movie Since ‘Birth of a Nation’

Nate Parker is attached to direct the Los Angeles Police Department drama “Black & Blue,” Deadline reports. The filmmaker will rewrite the original script penned by Jim McGrath. The project is the first feature film Parker has been attached to since “The Birth of a Nation.”

“Black & Blue” tells the true story of Ralph Waddy, a heroic detective who led the LAPD through some of the most significant events of the 1960s, including Robert Kennedy’s assassination, the Watts riots, and the Manson Murders. The script reportedly focuses on Waddy’s detective career and his rocky relationship with his father.

Per Deadline, ForM.B Entertainment’s Steven Jensen is set to produce along with Darren Enenstein, Shondrella Avery, Adam R. Sanders, and Lenny Rosenberg. Avery will also star in the movie in an unspecified role.

Parker has remained largely out of the spotlight since fall 2016, when rape allegations from his college years resurfaced and derailed the release of his Sundance winner “The Birth of a Nation.” Parker wrote and directed the slave rebellion drama about Nat Turner, which was purchased in Park City by Fox Searchlight Pictures for a record $17.5 million. The movie only grossed $15.8 million at the U.S. box office.

“Black & Blue” is expected to begin filming this July in Los Angeles.