On the latest Variety podcast Playback with Kris Tapley, filmmaker Ava DuVernay joined the host and Variety awards editor to discuss her latest film, “A Wrinkle in Time.” Fans were lucky enough to get more than they bargained for, receiving new details about DuVernay’s upcoming Netflix series, “Central Park Five.”
The “Selma” director is currently casting for the series about the Central Park jogger case. Busy as always, DuVernay is also writing three of the five episodes, totaling five hours of content for the streaming giant.
“Each boy is the center for an hour,” DuVernay told Tapley, “so they each get their own hour as the film is progressing. So the case is progressing, but each hour, a different boy is more prominent until you get to the fifth boy at the end.”
The Central Park Five are five men who were falsely accused and convicted of the violent assault, rape, and sodomy of Trisha Meili when they were teenagers. The teens each served between six and 13 years in prison when, in 2001, a serial rapist and murderer, Matias Reyes, confessed to the crime, a statement that was later proven by DNA evidence, vacating the Central Park Five’s convictions.
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Acclaimed cinematographer Bradford Young, who worked with DuVernay on “Selma,” will be shooting the series.
“I’m gonna work on it with Brad this summer,” DuVernay said, “and we’re just going to get back into it and tell these stories of these families. It’s really [about] the families. It’s a beautiful story.”
The trial and conviction were incredibly controversial; four out of the Central Park Five were African American, and one was of Hispanic descent. Despite there being no DNA evidence or legitimate confessions from the boys, they were convicted.
Not surprisingly, Donald Trump paid $85,000 to have full-page ads in four of New York City’s major newspapers calling for a return of the death penalty for the teenagers. Here are a couple excerpts from the ad.
“BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK THE POLICE!…Mayor Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts. I do not think so. I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer … Yes, Mayor Koch, I want to hate these murderers and I always will. … How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their CIVIL LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS!”
You wouldn’t be wrong thinking the ad reads a lot like his recent tweets. Trump still believes the Central Park Five are guilty and never issued an apology. Suffice it to say, the case brought a lot of already existing societal racial tension to the surface.
Unfortunately, DuVernay didn’t mention a release date for the Netflix series.
