Lionsgate has resurrected Tulia, the long-gestating Tollin-Robbins project starring Halle Berry as a lawyer investigating an infamous Texas drug bust.
The producers are in negotiations with Carl Franklin to direct the feature, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film centers on the 1999 arrests of 46 black men in the impoverished town of Tulia, Texas — a sting effort where no money, drugs or illegal weapons were found on any of the suspects.
Berry will portray the lead attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which intervened to free the citizens wrongly convicted based on one crooked cop’s testimony.
The story is based on the nonfiction book “Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town” by Nate Blakeslee. Karen Croner wrote the screenplay.
Production begins May 1 in Louisiana.
