Skip to main content

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is making a KKK movie for Amazon

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is making a KKK movie for Amazon

/

K Troop chronicles the rise of the KKK and the special military division that did battle with it

Share this story

Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Amazon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are making a film about the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. The film, titled K Troop, is still in the early phases of development, but Amazon has secured the rights to the movie and Gordon-Levitt will produce it, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Gordon-Levitt may star in the film, as well, THR reports.

The announcement comes amid an ongoing debate over diversity and representation in Hollywood, and at a time when the KKK has re-emerged as a political talking point, thanks in large part to Donald Trump. It also follows the strong Sundance debut of The Birth of a Nation, which shares its title with a 1915 film about the rise of the KKK and tells the story of Nat Turner's 1831 slave rebellion.

K Troop's title refers to a special US military division that battled the KKK after the hate group first rose to prominence after the Civil War. The division was led by Major Lewis Merrill, whom Gordon-Levitt would play if he stars in the film. There is as yet no screenwriter attached to the film, and no timeline for its release has been announced.