Amandla Stenberg is set to star in the upcoming film adaptation of The Hate U Give, a book based on the Black Lives Matter movement by debut author Angela Thomas, according to The Hollywood Reporter. George Tillman Jr. has been tapped to direct the movie; Audrey Wells will adapt the script.
Stenberg will play the novel's protagonist, 16-year-old Starr, a character who inhabits worlds of both privilege and poverty. She lives in a slum, but attends an upper-class high school; ultimately, Starr witnesses the shooting of her unarmed best friend by a police officer, which sends her life into an extreme tailspin.
Thomas' book is being published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins. Though the exact sum for which it was acquired has not been disclosed, sources told Publishers Weekly that a bidding war resulted in a six-figure deal.
Fox 2000 ultimately won the rights to the book, which takes its name from Tupac Shakur's "T.H.U.G." tattoo.
"What society feeds into youth comes back later and kicks society in the butt,” Thomas told Publishers Weekly in February, describing how Shakur's music impacted her as a writer. "These kids who are being blamed for their own deaths are still kids."
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