For Jason Mitchell’s next movie, the actor will portray a Black man who was fatally shot by the police hours before his 2006 wedding, TMZ reports.
Mitchell—who played Eazy-E in Straight Outta Compton—will take on the role of Sean Bell in the film titled 50 Shots, a nod to the 50 bullets that police shot into Bell in Jamaica, Queen.
Bell, who was 23, had just wrapped up his bachelor party with his dad and two friends when cops shot up their car. Undercover cops who were surveilling a nearby strip club thought the men were armed, but they weren’t. In 2010, Bell’s family won a settlement against the city for $7 million, but the three cops who shot Bell were fully acquitted.
Mitchell first read for the role of an undercover cop, but later asked to play Bell’s part instead. The movie, which has been in development for three years, will be filmed in Queens—and while there are a few other projects focused on Bell’s death, his family has been particularly involved with 50 Shots. According to TMZ, Mitchell and Bell’s father have spoken almost every day since Mitchell joined the cast.
In 2017, Complex released a video documenting Bell's life with interviews from his friends and fiancée Nicole Paultre Bell. You can watch the episode below.
Mitchell, however, has a problematic past. Last year, the actor left Showtime’s The Chi due to sexual misconduct allegations involving his co-star, Tiffany Boone. Then, this past April, Mitchell was arrested for felony weapons and drug charges in Mississippi.