John Krasinski Joins Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit Riots Drama

Kathryn Bigelow’s currently untitled drama about the 1967 Detroit riots has just added John Krasinski to its considerably talented cast. The 13 Hours star joins John Boyega, Will Poulter, Anthony Mackie, Jack Reynor, Kaitlyn Dever, Jason Mitchell, Algee Smith, Ben O’Toole, and Hannah Murray.

According to The Wrap, the film will follow the 12th Street riot that swept through Motor City for five days in late July 1967 after a police raid on an unlicensed, after-hours bar. Bigelow’s film will examine race relations and systemic racial tensions in the city. She’ll be working with her Zero Dark Thirty and Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal, and she will also be producing the film.

Plans for the movie come at a pertinent time in this country, as the conversation about modern race relations is pretty much everywhere these days. It’s likely that we’ll see some parallels between her film and the very recent violence in places like Ferguson and Dallas.

The film doesn’t currently have a theater date, but it’s slated for a 2017 release, coinciding with the 50-year anniversary of the riots. John Krasinski’s latest, The Hollars, is currently out in theaters in a limited release.