President Barack Obama’s life will be featured in another movie scheduled to begin filming in April, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Unlike January’s Sundance premiere of the biographical film Southside With You, which takes place in 1989 when Obama met Michelle, Barry will explore the previous decade of the President’s life as a student in New York City.
Devon Terrell, only known for Steve McQueen’s scrapped HBO series Codes of Conduct, will star as young Obama. Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) will play an unnamed female classmate that Obama “forged a key relationship” with while studying at Columbia University in the early 1980’s. The film will likely delve deep into some of the same topics Washington Post editor David Maraniss discussed in his 2012 book, Barack Obama: The Story, as well as other biographical works centered around Obama’s young adulthood. In Dreams from My Father, Obama’s autobiography, the President speaks heavily about his personal experiences with race-relations, including his struggle to feel comfortable with his mixed-race identity in his 20’s.
The indie biopic drama will be directed by Vice producer Vikram Gandhi (Kumare), who coincidentally also graduated from Columbia. The script was written by author Adam Mansbach, best known for Go The Fuck To Sleep and Angry Black White Boy . Black Bear Pictures’ Teddy Schwarzman and Ben Stillman will produce the film alongside Cinetic Media’s Dana O’Keefe.
If you are looking for an Obama documentary in the meantime, check out 2016: Obama’s America. Released in 2012, the film examines a simple question:“If Barack Obama wins a second term, where will we be in 2016?”
Barry, still in the early stages of production, has no official release date.
