Colin Kaepernick’s Netflix film production was briefly plunged into turmoil over fears that anti-Black Lives Matter activists were planning a protest during a location shoot.
The film project, entitled Colin in Black and White, is being produced by Emmy-winning Director Ava DuVernay and will star Jaden Michael as a young Colin Kaepernick.
Producers became worried that the production was going to be targeted on Friday by a protest sponsored by the conservative group, the Proud Boys. While no protest ever materialized, the producers sent a list of instructions to crew and staff just in case, TMZ reported.
A memo was sent about the possible protest telling staff that “anti-BLM sentiments may protest against the production.” Insiders also told TMZ that someone claiming to be a member of the protesters had called the production offices to warn about the protest plans.
It is unclear why no protest was mounted, but Kaepernick was not onset during last week’s location shoot.
The film claims to chronicle Kaepernick’s teenaged years as he made his way through high school and worked to become the national anthem protester we all now know.
Director DuVernay has long been an admirer of the former NFL player.
“I think his actions have been inspiring to so many people. I see what he’s done as art. I believe that art is seeing the world that doesn’t exist. You know a lot of people excel at creativity — making TV, movies, painting, writing books — but you can be an artist in your own life. Civil-rights activists are artists. Athletes are artists. People who imagine something that is not there,” DuVernay told GQ last year.
“His resistance, his protest, the manner in which he’s gone on living life in his interactions with the NFL have been extremely inspiring to me as an artist,” DuVernay added. “Extremely motivating and nourishing. I just feel fortunate that I’ve had a chance to get to know him personally, to talk to him.”
Colin in Black and White may hit Netflix sometime near the end of the year.
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