EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali is set to star with Tom Hardy in 77 Blackout, a crime thriller set on the night when the city that never sleeps lost power and plunged into chaos and lawlessness. Cary Joji Fukunaga is directing. Fresh from the Oppenheimer Best Picture Oscar, Charles Roven is producing along with Madison Weireter for Atlas Entertainment, and William Green and Aaron Ginsburg for The Cut.
(L-R) Charles Roven and Cary Fukunaga
AP
Black Bear will introduce the film to international buyers at the Cannes market, with WME repping U.S. rights. Script was written by Frank John Hughes with revisions by Fukunaga.
In 1977, five rogue police officers formulate a plan to rob three criminal strongholds – the Hong Kong Triads, the Italian Mafia, and the Harlem Mob – all in one night. When a blackout sweeps the city the night of the robbery, the crew is forced to navigate a hellish landscape as years of being overworked and underpaid forces each of them to confront their own morality.
Ali, whose Oscars came from Moonlight and Green Book, most recently starred in Leave the World Behind and has Blade coming, will play Ray Butler. Hardy, whose star turns include Inception, The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road and the Venom franchise, plays Eddie Boyle. He previously worked with Roven when he played Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
Fukunaga’s films include Daniel Craig’s 007 swan song No Time to Die, the groundbreaking first season of True Detective, and Beasts of No Nation.
