Netflix developing ‘Forty Acres’ from Cheo Hodari Coker and Jay-Z

The thriller is described as a "cross between The Firm and Get Out."

Nov 25, 2020

Luke Cage creator Cheo Hadari Coker is bringing a new project to Netflix.

According to Deadline, the streaming service is working with Coker to develop a film adaptation of Forty Acres based on the novel by Dwayne Alexander Smith. The story follows a civil rights attorney who must fight for survival when he’s invited to join an elite Black organization with a mind-blowing secret.

The thriller described as a “cross between The Firm and Get Out” will be written by Coker. He will also serve as a producer alongside Jay-Z and James Lassiter as well as Aaron Kaplan, Niles Kirchner, and Bill Strauss. Executive producers are Smith, Dana Honor for Kapital, and Mike Epps.

Author Dwayne Alexander Smith. Photograph: Gordon Chou

According to Collider, Forty Acres was originally pitched to Kapital as a potential TV series. Kaplan felt the story would work better as a film and decided it would become the first feature project under the growing company. The film reunited him with Jay-Z and Lassiter, who worked together for the upcoming ABC limited series, Women of the Movement.

Jay-Z and Lassiter worked together to produce the all-Black western The Harder They Fall for Netflix, which halted production due to COVID-19 in October.

The creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the beloved Netflix/Marvel series Luke Cage is repped by CAA and Literate Management and currently has an overall television deal at Amazon. He’s set to pen Diary of a Trap God, based on the Gucci Mane autobiography for Paramount/Imagine, and a sequel to the 2005 flick, Four Brothers for Paramount. The former entertainment journalist for Vibe, Spin, Rolling Stone, and the LA Times was the last person to interview Notorious B.I.G. before his death.

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