One is an activist whose instrument of choice is a camera. The other went from diving into the end zone as a quarterback to diving headfirst into activism.
Ava DuVernay and Colin Kaepernick are those two people, and they’ve teamed up for a limited Netflix series on Kaepernick’s formative years. The project is called “Colin in Black & White,” and it will center on his years as a Black teenager living in Turlock, California, with his white adoptive family.
Much of the series will focus on events in Kaepernick’s life that “led him to become the activist he is today,” Netflix said in its statement announcing the project. He’ll be lending his voice to the show as a narrator as well as appearing as himself in some appearances, and the former NFL player also will be an executive producer for the six-part series.
Deadline reports that scripts have already been completed and shooting will commence this fall, depending on what COVID-19 health guidelines are in place then.
It hasn’t been announced whether DuVernay will direct any episodes, but she’ll be producing the series through her company ARRAY. Scripts were written by Michael Starrbury, who also lent his pen to DuVernay’s award winning-series “When They See Us.”
Word first came about a DuVernay-Kaepernick collaboration in 2018 when the “Selma” director spoke with Variety, but reports described it as a comedy then. The 2012 Sundance festival Best Director Prize winner sounded off on her eagerness to get started on the project.
“With his act of protest, Colin Kaepernick ignited a national conversation about race and justice with far-reaching consequences for football, culture and for him, personally,” said DuVernay in a statement. “Colin’s story has much to say about identity, sports and the enduring spirit of protest and resilience. I couldn’t be happier than to tell this story with the team at Netflix.”
Source: Ava DuVernay, Colin Kaepernick Joining Forces to Produce Netflix Series on His Formative Years
