Lionsgate Boards ‘Black And Blue’ Director Deon Taylor’s Crime Drama ‘Free Agents’

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Lionsgate and Deon Taylor are back in business together for Taylor’s latest project Free Agents, a crime drama set in the world of professional athletes. This comes just weeks after the studio acquired Taylor’s psychological thriller Fatale, starring Oscar winner Hilary Swank and Michael Ealy.

Taylor will direct Free Agents from a script he co-wrote with Joe Bockol. In the vein of Heat and The Town, the film centers on a group of pro football players who turn to crime to get back at the owners who are exploiting and underpaying them.

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Taylor will produce with Roxanne Taylor under their Hidden Empire banner. Brady Fujikawa will oversee the project for Lionsgate.

Taylor’s film Black and Blue is out this weekend via Sony’s Screen Gems. Starring Naomie Harris, Frank Grillo, Tyrese Gibson and Mike Colter, the thriller follows a rookie African American female cop who stumbles upon corrupt officers who are murdering a criminal, an incident captured by her body cam.

Earlier this year, Screen Gems released Taylor’s The Intruder, starring Dennis Quaid, Ealy and Meagan Good. The thriller performed solidly, raking in $11 million on opening weekend with a production budget of $8 million.

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