If the formative years of John Krasinski’s acting career were defined by comedic, wholly light-hearted turns across The Office, Away We Go and It’s Complicated, thanks to the likes of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi and Amazon’s upcoming Jack Ryan series, we’re beginning to see the actor make a foray into the action genre across screens both big and small.
His latest, according to The Hollywood Reporter, will send Krasinski back in time – all the way back to the blistering hot summer of 1967 for Kathryn Bigelow’s as-yet-untitled Detroit Riots biopic.
Tackling the systemic racism of the time head on, Bigelow’s latest – one which heralds an exciting new collaboration with The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty scribe Mark Boal – has spent the past few months assembling a who’s who of acting talent, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens star John Boyega, Will Poulter, Jacob Latimore, Algee Smith, Ben O’Toole, Jack Reynor, MCU stalwart Anthony Mackie, Kaitlyn Dever, Hannah Murray and, more recently, Straight Outta Compton star Jason Mitchell.
Despite Boyega already wrapping his work on the Detroit Riots feature, production continues apace ahead of a planned theatrical release in 2017. If that reads as a quick turn-around, it should; Annapurna Pictures has fast-tracked the ensemble drama to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the devastating social unrest that engulfed the Motor City all those years ago. We’ll let you know if and when the studio zeros in on a specific date, not to mention an official title.