SOLITARY: David Oyelowo Forms Creative Partnership With Nate Parker and Defends Him Through Controversy

David Oyelowo Forms Creative Partnership With Nate Parker

David Oyelowo and director Nate Parker are once again collaborating on Parker’s new film Solitary, a drama where Oyelowo will play a wrongfully convicted man released after seven years of solitary confinement.

Solitary will also star Olivia Washington, Barry Pepper and Jimmie Fails. Washington will portray Oyelowo’s fiancé. Production will be starting next week in Vancouver at Bron Studios. In addition, Parker is directing Oyelowo in Sweet Thunder, a biopic about professional boxing champ Sugar Ray Robinson.

During a Zoom conversation with Variety, Oyelowo defended his decision to work with Parker, saying, “He is a good person beyond his fallibility, beyond the mistakes he made. And I believe in redemption.” It has recently come to light that in 1999 Parker was accused and acquitted of rape during his time in college. The American Film Institute subsequently canceled a screening of his film Birth of a Nation and a Q&A with the director over the controversy indicating that working with Parker could be a risky career move for some.

Oyelowo further commented, “I believe in forgiveness and he is someone I have been around enough to know that in my opinion he is worthy of that. … He made mistakes in the middle of that whole controversy,” Oyelowo said, adding, “He lacked a certain contrition that he now has as a human being.”

Bron Studios said Friday that Solitary is its newest project in its mission to bring socially conscious stories to audiences’ attention in cinema. “Bron believes that these narratives must be captivating and compelling while also empowering, so that we may shape our communities and our future for the better,” the studio said.

Oyelowo’s film credits include Selma and Nightingale. His directorial debut, The Water Man, premiered at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival. Parker and Oyelowo are producing Solitary with Bron’s Aaron L. Gilbert and Christina Lee Storm on behalf of Yoruba Saxon Productions. Jason Cloth of Creative Wealth Media is set to executive produce.

Last week USA Today reported that Oyelowo was quarantining with his family in Vancouver while getting ready for thrice a week COVID-19 tests to film “Solitary” with Parker.

Oyelowo is represented by the Creative Arts Agency and Hamilton Hodell. Pepper is represented by The Kohner Agency and Untitled Entertainment. Washington is represented by WME and Liebman Entertainment. Fails is represented by CAA and Anonymous Content.

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