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Community Corner

Controversial BART Shooting Will Become A Movie

Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer is signed on to play Oscar Grant's mother.

 

Hayward resident Oscar Grant III's life will make it to the big screen in a movie titled "Fruitvale," the name of the Oakland BART station where he was gunned down by a now-former BART police officer on New Year's Day 2009.

Twenty-two-year-old Oscar Grant III was shot and killed by BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle, 29, who said he had mistaken his service gun for his Taser stun gun after he responded to a reported fight at the Fruitvale BART station around 2 a.m.

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Grant family attorney John Burris said "the movie is designed to be a positive one" that will illustrate Grant's life and the night he was killed, although his death will be a small portion of the film.

Burris, who has read the screenplay and coordinated between the writer and Grant's family, said the movie will not include Mehserle's trial and other legal matters connected to the shooting.

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Additionally, he said the film is not a commentary on police.

Instead it will focus on how Grant was trying to turn his life around with his girlfriend and young daughter just before he was killed.

Grant had been convicted of two felonies. At the shooting, he was unarmed.

Bay Area native Ryan Coogler is signed on as the writer and director of the film, which is now in pre-production. Burris said filming has not yet begun.

Coogler, who is represented by WME in Beverly Hills, is from the Oakland area and attended St. Mary's College High School in Berkeley. He has previously written and directed short films. This will be his first full-length film.

One of his shorts, "Locks," about Oakland inner-city youth screened at the Oakland Museum of California in 2009.

Burris confirmed that "The Help" movie star and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer is signed on to play Oscar Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson.

Michael B. Jordan, from the television series "Friday Night Lights," will take on the role of Grant, Burris said.

Burris said filming is expected to be primarily in Oakland and other parts of the Bay Area. Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions is listed on The Internet Movie Database as the movie's production company.

The online movie directory lists the movie as a drama to be released in 2013.

Burris said he had been contacted about a potential movie during a civil trial representing Johnson. He said he didn't tell her about the film until the wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit settled.

Johnson was paid $1.3 million by BART in June 2011.

After Grant's death, Mehserle's trial and ultimate conviction and sentencing sparked outrage in the Bay Area.

Riots erupted in downtown Oakland in July 2010 when the former BART cop was convicted of an involuntary manslaughter charge.

Mehserle was sentenced in November 2010 to two years at state prison for the killing and was released in June 2011, having incurred time served prior to his conviction.

-Bay City News

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