{"id":1216,"date":"2017-09-12T21:06:19","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T21:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/the-brian-banks-story-is-coming-to-the-big-screen\/"},"modified":"2017-09-12T21:06:19","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T21:06:19","slug":"the-brian-banks-story-is-coming-to-the-big-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/the-brian-banks-story-is-coming-to-the-big-screen","title":{"rendered":"The Brian Banks Story is Coming to the Big Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-17583\" style=\"vertical-align: top;\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/brianbanksbanner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>File photo.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Former Long Beach Poly High football star Brian Banks was wrongfully accused of rape at the age of 16, after fighting the case for nearly a decade and ultimately becoming exonerated, his story will be told on the big screen.<\/p>\n<p>Casting has already begun and<a href=\"http:\/\/deadline.com\/2017\/09\/aldis-hodge-greg-kinnear-biopic-usc-football-player-accused-of-rape-brian-banks-tom-shadyac-1202163538\/amp\/\"> it has been reported<\/a> that Banks will be played by award-winning American actor Aldis Hodge, best known for his roles on the TNT series \u201cLeverage\u201d and as MC Ren in \u201cStraight Outta Compton\u201d. Alongside him will be Greg Kinnear, Academy Award nominee for \u201cAs Good as It Gets,\u201d portraying Justin Brooks, his defense attorney.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am thrilled that the Brian Banks story is being made into a movie. It\u2019s an important story that needs to be told in a country where 95 percent of criminal cases end in plea bargains,&#8221; the real Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project at California Western School of Law, told the <em>Post<\/em>. &#8220;Sentences have become so long, and the risks of going to trial so great, that sometimes even innocent people like Brian plea to crimes they did not commit.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <center> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Movie Update: Everyone&#8217;s been asking, so here it is. @aldis_hodge what a journey you have coming your way my brotha. These shoes of mine&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AasB9TYEGa\">pic.twitter.com\/AasB9TYEGa<\/a><\/p>\n<p> \u2014 Brian Banks (@BrianBanksFREE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrianBanksFREE\/status\/905914881940922368\">September 7, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script charset=\"utf-8\" type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\"><\/script> <\/center> <\/p>\n<p>The film is set to be directed by Tom Shadyac, who directed feature films \u201cAce Ventura,\u201d \u201cBruce Almighty,\u201d and the documentary \u201cI Am\u201d and will be produced by Amy Baer\u2019s development fund Gidden Media, and Rawat and Monica Levinson from ShivHans Pictures. Screenwriter Doug Atchison, who directed and wrote \u201cAkeelah and the Bee,\u201d wrote the script for the film.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter meeting Brian and hearing his story, I felt compelled to make this movie,\u201d Rawat Levinson stated earlier this year. \u201cI\u2019m committed to stories about social justice, which is why this project resonated with me. Tom\u2019s life journey the past several years makes him an inspired choice to tell this story, and we\u2019re so glad to have him on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An all-American high school athlete who committed to USC his junior year, his life was overturned in 2002 when he was falsely accused of rape despite negative rape kit results.<\/p>\n<hr style=\"width:100%; float:left;\" \/>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; float: left;\">\n<div style=\"width: 100px; height: 100px; background-image: url('images\/stephanie\/brian-banks-speaking.png'); background-size: cover; background-position: center center; float: left; margin-right: 30px; display:none;\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<p> <small style=\"font-weight: lighter;\">RELATED<\/small> <\/p>\n<h2 ><a onclick=\"ga('send', 'event', 'Related Link', 'click', 'Realted Link v1');\" href=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/news\/brian-banks-speaks-about-his-wrongful-conviction-and-exoneration-at-long-beach-event-3\/\">Former Long Beach Poly Football Star Brian Banks Tells Police, Prosecutors the Story of His Wrongful Rape Conviction and Eventual Exoneration<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0;\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<hr style=\"width:100%; float:left;\" \/>\n<p>During an educational program for law enforcement and prosecutors hosted by the City Prosecutors Office in 2015, Banks recalled his case experience as an objectionable one.<\/p>\n<p>In spite of a positive review while incarcerated for 90 days in Chino, he said that the judge sentenced him the maximum amount of time allowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo explanation, no reasoning. Six years,\u201d Banks said. \u201cThe way it was given to me was almost as if he was at a drive-through at McDonald\u2019s. He ordered it up and drove off.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>He was nonetheless sent through the system and sentenced to a decade of prison and parole.<\/p>\n<p>Banks achieved parole in 2007 and while readjusting to post-prison life, was contacted on Facebook by the accuser who, in attempt to make amends, confessed and confirmed his innocence.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t until Banks got in contact with the California Innocence Project and Justin Brooks who lead the case to victory that Banks\u2019 conviction was ultimately exonerated in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>After his redemption, Banks did ultimately achieve his NFL dreams with the Atlanta Falcons\u2019 practice squad in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Banks is currently serving as a speaker and activist, and will be hosting a new show on Oxygen called \u201cFinal Appeal\u201d, a TV series that will feature Banks and former prosecutor, Loni Coombs, as they unravel details of criminal cases of defendants that claimed to be wrongfully convicted.<\/p>\n<p>Production reportedly began this summer. A release date has not been announced.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt3920820\/\">visit the IMDB website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:<\/strong> this story was updated with a quote from Innocense Project Director Justin Brooks.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Long Beach Poly High football star Brian Banks was wrongfully accused of rape at the age of 16, after fighting the case for nearly a decade and ultimately becoming exonerated, his story will be told on the big screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":65830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[198],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-brian-banks","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}