Whoopi Goldberg, Sasheer Zamata, Angelica Ross and Hill Harper will star in Jordan Walker-Pearlman’s Ghetto Plainsman, an adaptation of Jarid Manos’ gritty novel.
Ghetto Plainsman is about a racially enigmatic young man, Marcus, dealing with identity and self-hatred while falling into a world of prostitution and drug dealing in 1980s and 1990s New York. He seeks redemption through his love of the American West, where he confronts an equally violent and fragile world.
Goldberg will play Zaures, an androgynous drug lord running the enterprise Marcus works for, who takes an interest in him. Zamata will play Lahumba, Marcus’ college friend, a free spirited but powerful personality who tries to stop his descent into chaos. Ross will play Tiffany, a trans woman prostitute and neighbor who bonds with Marcus and becomes his fiercest ally. Harper plays Thomas, a corporate lawyer and environmental activist, a would-be love interest for Marcus who tries not to get to close to the fire.
The screenplay, adapted from the novel, was written by Carlton Jordan, Elizabeth Hunter and Walker-Pearlman.
Ghetto Plainsman is being produced by Walker-Pearlman and Jordan and executive produced by Karenna Gore and Barry Johnson. Filming will kick off in late summer in Nevada and New York.
“This movie is being made for those that feel unwanted, forced into recklessness, or just broken-hearted from life, that there may be something inside a person powerful enough to will their way out,” said Walker-Pearlman.
Financing for Ghetto Plainsman was arranged by Johnson, a business executive who has worked in senior managerial capacities in many organizations including the Obama administration, 32 Advisors, Sony Music, Disney and the joint venture of Microsoft and BET.
Goldberg’s credits include Chris Rock’s Top Five and the upcoming film 9/11. She is repped by WME. Harper, most recently seen in All Eyez on Me and Concussion, along with TV series Homeland and Limitless, is repped by Innovative Artists. Ross is repped by Stellar Talent Agency. Zamata is repped by the Gersh Agency. Legal representation of the film is by Pryor Cashman. Walker-Pearlman is repped by ICM Partners, Lorrie Bartlett and Raymond Tambe at Cohen Gardner.
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