Ryan Coogler And His Wife To Collaborate On New Harlem-Based Comic Book Film

From Fruitvale Station to Black Panther, Oakland-bred film director Ryan Coogler is the man behind some of Hollywood’s most poignant films. For one of his upcoming projects, he’s collaborating with his wife Zinzi Evans to produce a film based on the comic book series Bitter Root, Deadline reported.

The series—which was developed by illustrator Sanford Greene and writers David F. Walker and Chuck Brown—is centered on a Harlem-based monster-hunting family during the peak of the Harlem Renaissance. The Sangeryes family has a long history of overcoming evil and the surviving members must uphold the legacy and save the city of New York. Bitter Root has garnered several nominations for prestigious awards including the 2019 Ringo award for Best Series and the 2019 Eisner Award for Best New Series. The global entertainment company Legendary Pictures Productions will develop the project in partnership with Coogler, Evans and Sev Ohanian. There is no word on when the film will be released.

Coogler has been dedicated to bringing diverse narratives to the silver screen. “As I got older, I wanted to find a comic book character that looked like me and not just one that was on the sidelines,” he said in an interview with NPR. “I just want to make films that resonate with me, that are interesting to me, that deal with themes that I’m passionate about.”

His wife Zinzi Evans is expanding her repertoire in the film industry and has collaborated with him on several projects. Coogler often credits Evans for helping him launch his career in film. “I was broke, playing football on the little scholarship money and my wife scrapped together some cheese and bought me Final Draft, which is the software that you write your movies on. She got me that,” he said in a Hot 97 interview.

As far as what’s on the horizon for Coogler, he’s working on Space Jam 2 which is slated to be released in 2021 and the sequel to Black Panther will hit theaters in 2022.

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