A film about the life and death of Emmett Till – the 14-year-old whose gruesome lynching in 1955 helped galvanize the civil rights movement – had been in the works for decades before it found its way to Chinonye Chukwu, but all it took was an empowering thumbs up from James Bond film franchise producer Barbara Broccoli to convince her to take on the task.
Writer-director Chukwu had just premiered her 2019 film “Clemency” when Broccoli approached her with a new project. Three years later, Chukwu recalled Broccoli’s 10 “magic words” that sealed the deal: “‘You can take this in whatever creative direction you want.’”