Danielle Deadwyler (“The Piano Lesson”) is set to produce and star in a film adaptation of Ann Petry’s 1946 novel, “The Street.”
According to the official synopsis, “The Street” chronicles “the harrowing story of Lutie Johnson, a young Black woman, and her spirited struggle to raise her son amid the violence, poverty and racial dissonance of Harlem in the late 1940s.”
Michael Sherman and Alix Madigan also serve as producers along with Deadwyler. Gina Atwater (“Westworld”) will pen the script and serve as executive producer.
“We are inspired to be a part of bringing Ann Petry’s harrowing classic to life with Danielle and Gina and could not imagine better creative collaborators to partner with on this journey,” Madigan and Sherman said in a joint statement.
“Ann Petry’s ‘The Street’ has quaked my understanding of motherhood, Black and American family life experiences on how to just get by (historically), and the festering emotions that seed alongside the wilted optimism and dark hope of the American Dream,” added Deadwyler. “‘The Street’ is essential to American literature. It was evident upon its marvelous critically acclaimed debut; and, now, with this steadfast and dynamic collaboration with Alix, Michael, Gina, myself and the Petry estate, we hope to rumble the film landscape with an adaptation of her evergreen tale of the lengths to which one mother, one woman is stretched for self, family and the costs of survival.”
“The Street” was the first novel written by a Black woman to sell more than 1,00,000 copies. It was also recently featured on The Atlantic’s list of top 100 American novels.
