Fox 2000 has acquired the film rights to The Hate U Give by Angela Thomas. This young adult novel, Thomas’ debut, will be published by Balzer + Bray, a HarperCollins imprint.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Amandla Stenberg, the actress who portrayed Rue in the first Hunger Games movie, has signed on to star in this movie. George Tillman Jr. will take the helm as the director. Audrey Wells will serve as the screenwriter. Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, the producers behind two John Green adaptations and the Twilight film franchise, will also work on this project.
Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter: “Thomas’ story follows a 16-year-old girl named Starr who grew up in a poverty-stricken slum, but now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she’s torn between her two very different worlds as she tries to speak her truth. Thomas started working on the story in 2011 while studying at Belhaven University. She even sought out her literary agent, Brooks Sherman, via Twitter, asking if a book based on the Black Lives Matter movement would get any traction. The title is based on Tupac Shakur’s tattoo, ‘T.H.U.G.'” (via Variety)