‘Maze Runner’s Dexter Darden To Play John Lewis In ‘Son Of The South’
EXCLUSIVE: Dexter Darden, who appeared in all three Maze Runner films, has booked a key role in Barry Alexander Brown’s civil rights-era drama Son of the South, which has Spike Lee attached as an executive producer along with Brown.
Based on Bob Zellner’s autobiography The Wrong Side of Murder Creek and written by Brown, the film follows the true-life story of Zellner, an Alabama native and grandson of a Birmingham Klansman who is pulled into the center of the civil rights movement. The spring and summer of 1961 challenged the 22-year old to rethink his beliefs as he witnessed the heroism of John Lewis during the Montgomery Freedom Riders riot in May of that year.
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Darden will play Lewis, the well-known civil rights activist and now U.S. politician who was one of the original 13 members of the Freedom Riders. He joins the previously announced cast that includes Lucas Till, Lucy Hale, Lex Scott Davis, Julia Ormond, Cedric the Entertainer, Chaka Forman, Sharone Lanier, Brian Dennehy, Shamier Anderson, Jake Abel and Ludi Lin.
Colin Bates of Lucidity Entertainment, Stan Erdreich of River Bend Pictures, Eve Pomerance, Bill Black, and David Kang are producing.
Darden, who co-starred opposite Forest Whitaker, Garrett Hedlund, Usher Raymond and Tom Wilkinson in the Sundance-winning film Burden, is repped by APA and Crimson Media Group.
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