Earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, the biggest splash came from Nate Parker‘s self-written, directed and produced–oh, and he also stars in it–Birth of a Nation movie, the slave rebellion film that broke the record for the one-time sale of a feature film, netting $17.5 million in a deal with Fox Searchlight studios.
The film, which Parker is calling a “battle cry,” will star Parker himself, How To Get Away With Murder‘s Aja Naomi King, Gabrielle Union and other noteworthy actors. Outside of contributing $100,000 of his own money, Parker was able to get $10 million in outside funding, including investments from former NBA star Michael Finley, and current star Tony Parker. Fox Searchlight won the bidding war over Netflix, who was reportedly offering as much as $20 million for the movie.
You can watch the first teaser trailer for the film above. When Parker was asked about his mission for the film at Sundance, his reply was simple. “I’m swinging a hammer. I wanna break everything. Subvert, subvert, subvert.”
