Netflix has acquired the distribution rights to Rodney King, directed by Spike Lee and starring Roger Guenveur Smith. The film follows the life of the late civil rights figure, whose brutal treatment at the hands of the Los Angeles police triggered a series of riots across the city in 1992.
Smith has been performing the story as a one-man show for the last four years across the US, with the show due to finish later this year. When King died in 2012 following a long battle with alcohol and drug abuse, the actor described how he was “struck with how much I was moved, how much this tragic figure mattered to me.”
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The film follows on from the huge success of documentary OJ: Made In America, which also focuses heavily on the racial tensions in Los Angeles around the time of the Rodney King incident. Additionally, we’re also expecting to see John Ridley’s documentary Let it Fall: LA 1982-1992 later this year.
Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the acquittals of the LAPD officers filmed beating King, Lee’s film is set to premiere on 28 April.
