Management for Hollywood veteran Ernie Hudson, best known for his recurring role as Winston Zeddemore in the ‘Ghostbuster’ films, has confirmed that the Michigan native is attached to star in the upcoming feature film, A State of Hate (said to be inspired by true events) for Lansing, Mich.-based production company Collective Development Inc.
Hudson will play Nate Wallace, the father of a young murder victim in a small Michigan town in 1976.
“A State of Hate” takes place between Memorial Day and America’s bi-centennial Fourth of July celebrations in 1976, in a small farming community an hour north of Detroit. During a period still simmering with racial divide and tensions over the Civil Rights movement and desegregation, the murder of a beautiful, vibrant young black woman from the only “colored” family in the county, immediately focuses suspicion on a highly active klavern of the Ku Klux Klan, led by its avuncular leader, “Pastor Bill” (Mills). Michigan State Police Detective Lynn Kendall (DJ Perry) is called in to assist the inexperienced local police chief Mark Yando (Carlucci Weyant, “Karma: Crime, Passion and Reincarnation,” “Locked in a Room”) with an investigation that will take them deep into the secretive world of the KKK.
The screenplay for “A State of Hate” was penned by award-winning filmmaker, journalist and author Anthony Hornus (Story), who will direct, and New York Times bestselling authors Diane Carey and Greg Brodeur (Star Trek series).
While the final “Star Casting” continues for the project, which will be filmed on location entirely in Michigan, attached talent includes DJ Perry, who reprises his role as Detective Lynn Kendall from the recently released Special Edition of “An Ordinary Killer” (Based on a True Story), as well as Renee O’ Connor, best known for Gabrielle on “Xena: The Warrior Princess”; Terence Knox (“An Ordinary Killer,” “Tour of Duty”); Tony Becker (“Dean Teaster’s Ghost Town,” “Tour of Duty”); Renee Geerlings (“Halloween II”); and, actor-comedian-singer Johnny Dark, best known for his recurring comedic bits on “Late Night with David Letterman.”
Pictured: DJ Perry and Terence Knox in the original “An Ordinary Killer”
