Jamie Foxx has signed on to topline The Zebra Murders: A Season of Killing, Racial Madness, and Civil Rights for DreamWorks. Plan B and Foxx-King Entertainment are producing, reports Variety.
Based on the 2006 book by Prentice Earl Sanders and Bennett Cohen, the story chronicles the series of racially motivated serial killings — black on white — that took place in San Francisco in 1973 and 1974.
Jamie Foxx will play Sanders, who was one of two black police detectives who led the team that cracked the case. Amid their investigation, Sanders and his partner fought harassment within the police department and organized a union of minority policemen who brought a lawsuit against the city for discrimination, which they ultimately won. Sanders went on to become chief of police.
Matt Carnahan (The Kingdom) is adapting for the big screen.
Plan B’s Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner will produce alongside Foxx and Jaime Rucker King. Jeremy Kleiner, Marcus King and Shelby Stone will executive produce.
