Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis is set to star in an adaptation of the novel “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, at Netflix.
“Caste” is a New York Times bestseller and an Oprah’s Book Club selection, and the nonfiction book uses a structure of multiple stories to examines the long history of race in America across generations. The book chronicles how our lives today in America are defined by a hierarchy of human divisions dating back generations.
Ava DuVernay is writing and directing the project, along with producing “Caste” under her ARRAY Filmworks banner. Paul Garnes of ARRAY will also produce.
The film is financed by J4A, the independent film began production in December in Georgia with additional filming taking place in Germany and India.
“Caste” is DuVernay’s first feature film at Netflix after she directed the limited series “When They See Us,” which received 16 Emmy nominations. That movie made $132.6 million worldwide and made her the highest-grossing Black woman director in American box office history.
Ellis was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2022 for her critically acclaimed performance in “King Richard.” Ellis recently wrapped the Warner Bros. musical feature “The Color Purple,” Fox Searchlight’s “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” and Orion’s “The Nickel Boys.” She is Emmy-nominated for her work in HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” and Netflix’s “When They See Us,” her first foray with DuVernay.
DuVernay is repped by Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang and CAA, which will handle sales.
Ellis is repped by UTA and TMT Entertainment Group.