Michael K. Williams may have some legal woes, but Omar from The Wire isn’t letting a little case of extortion get in his way. As Deadline reports, the actor has signed on to play Scatter in the Sony remake of Superfly, which will be directed by Julien Christian Lutz, a.k.a. Director X.
Word is Future will be co-directing the film in addition to curating the soundtrack. Future has some pretty big shoes to fill; Curtis Mayfield’s was responsible for the original film’s iconic soundtrack, which some might argue eclipsed the film itself.
Written by Alex Tse, the new Superfly is based on the 1972 blaxploitation cult classic about a black cocaine dealer, Youngblood Priest, trying to quit the business after one last deal.
Williams is joined by Esai Morales, who will be playing Adalberto. Morales current stars on ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder. Grown-ish’s Trevor Jackson will also be starring as Priest, and Jason Mitchell will be playing Priest's business partner, Eddie. Mitchell had his breakout role as Easy-E in Straight Outta Compton. These days you can catch him on Netflix's Mudbound and Showtime’s The Chi.
Williams has received back-to-back Emmy nominations for his roles in HBO’s The Night Of and Bessie. Lawsuits aside, the actor has definitely been keeping busy these days. Williams co-stars in Emilio Estevez’s The Public, which is set to open the Santa Barbara Film Festival on Jan. 31. He also stars in the SundanceTV series, Hap & Leonard, the third season of which will premiere on March 7.
