After going higher, faster, in 1995 in California at Marvel Studios Captain Marvel, Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have signed on to write and direct an ’87 Oakland drama for Entertainment One. The Mississippi Grind and Mrs. America The directing duo will be at the helm next Freaky Talesproduced by eOne (Snake eyesthe upcoming Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and DC’s Blue beetle) and Macro (Sorry to bother, Judas and the Black Messiahthe upcoming They cloned Tyrone). Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.
According Deadline, Freaky Tales consists of four interconnected stories set in 1987 in Oakland, California. The film is a love letter to the music, movies, sports, politics, people, places and memories—some real, some invented—that Fleck grew up with in the 1980s. On the surface, each story seems to exists in a world familiar to our own, but its Oakland Freaky Tales hovers just beyond our known universe. Sure you can spread it out and touch it, but it’s going to be very sticky.”
Jelani Johnson (Cleopatra Jones) and Poppy Hanks (Fences, sorry to bother you) produce for Macro. Along with Boden and Fleck, executive producers include James Lopez (Girls Trip, Young.Wild.Free) and Charles D. King (The Earth, Judas and the Black Messiah). Oakland hip-hop legend and “Blow the Whistle” rapper Todd Shaw, aka Too $hort, also serves as executive producer with manager David Weintraub.
Boden and Fleck’s script is reportedly based on Shaw’s music, which was synonymous with ’80s Oakland, making it important that Shaw be a part of the film, according to Deadline.
Fresh off their Emmy-nominated drama Mrs. America for FX/Hulu, Boden and Fleck are also directing Masters of the Aira WWII miniseries by Band of Brothers and The ocean executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. In 2019, the filmmakers released Brie Larson starring Captain Marvel for Disney’s Marvel Studios, which grossed $1.1 billion worldwide.
Boden and Fleck did not return for the upcoming Captain Marvel follow The Marvelswhich reunites Larson and co-star Samuel L. Jackson under director Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, Candyman). The ensemble, which also stars Teyonah Parris (WandaVision), Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel), and MCU newcomer Zawe Ashton (Fresh Meat, Velvet Buzzsaw), is released in theaters on July 28, 2023.
