Corey Hawkins, best known for his acclaimed roles in The Piano Lesson and Straight Out of Compton, has joined the cast of the upcoming Amazon MGM Studios thriller Crime 101, written and directed by Bart Layton.
As initially reported by Deadline Hollywood, the film will feature a star-studded cast of Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, and Monica Barbaro. However, plot details and specifics about each actor’s role remain under wraps.
The film will likely align with the storyline of Don Winslow’s novella Crime 101, which revolves around a tense cat-and-mouse pursuit. In the original story, a veteran jewel thief named Davis plots a final heist involving a valuable diamond, using the Pacific Coast Highway as his route before he plans to vanish. Meanwhile, LAPD Detective Lou Lubesnick is determined to bring him down.
As the headline suggests, the production team is stacked with talent: Joely Fether of RAW is set to executive produce, with producers including Hemsworth and his Wild State co-founder Ben Grayson, RAW founder Dimitri Doganis, Layton, and Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Shane Salerno of The Story Factory also joins the producing lineup.
As mentioned, Hawkins will soon appear in The Piano Lesson, an adaptation of August Wilson’s classic play, set to premiere in select theaters and on Netflix on Nov. 22. The cast of The Piano Lesson includes John David Washington, Daniel Deadwyler, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher, Erykah Badu, Michael Potts, and Skylar Aleece Smith, with direction by Malcolm Washington, who co-wrote the screenplay with Virgil Williams.