EXCLUSIVE: Cooley High has been set for a remake at MGM with DeVon Franklin, Common and Tony Krantz partnering on the seminal 1975 coming-of-age drama. Seth Rosenfeld will write the script. Set in 1960s Chicago and focused on a group of high school pals with big dreams of getting out of the South Side, Cooley High fell in with a series of terrific coming-of-age films that included American Graffiti, The Lords Of Flatbush and The Wanderers.
Beyond that, the original became influential in African-American storytelling, in that it told a complex depiction of life as a black American and didn’t fit the blaxploitation mold of the time. The Michael Schultz-directed film cost $750,000 to make and grossed more than $13 million. Lighthearted at times, Cooley High also addressed serious topics such as gang violence, masculinity, sexism and the value of education in the black community. That made it fertile ground for Franklin, the former Sony exec who has focused on films with uplifting content; Chicago native Common, who with John Legend shared the Oscar for Best Song for Selma‘s “Glory”; and Krantz, whose father Steve Krantz produced the original film. They felt it a timely project in light of the racial unrest that has followed several high-profile shootings throughout the country.
Franklin will produce through his Franklin Entertainment, Common under Freedom Road Productions and Krantz through Flame Ventures. Drew Comins will executive produce for Flame Ventures along with Derek Dudley for Freedom Road. Jonathan Glickman and Adam Rosenberg will oversee the project for MGM, which is coming off the success of Me Before You, which it produced. That pic, starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin based on Jojo Moyes’ bestseller, has grossed $172.9M worldwide since Warner Bros released it last month.
Rosenfeld, whose credits include HBO’s How to Make It in America and King of the Jungle, is working on Baz Luhrmann’s Netflix series The Get Down. Franklin, Common, Krantz and Rosenfeld are all repped by CAA. Franklin is also repped by attorney John Meigs at Hansen Jacobsen.
Nooooo. They are going to make it corny. You need a cool writer and someone who lived it. Not a bunch of rich kids. They need to get the right actors. A bunch of unknowns and commerciAl actors. I dont have high hopes. Will they find an interesting way to add a white girlfriend or will she just pop up.
My sister will never forgive you people if you f up cooley high.
Hahah I’m gonna’ have to agree with you on alot of that. The corn factor could be SERIOUSLY high but I’ll give Com one thing, he hasn’t forgotten where he’s come from. It’s been a minute since he’s lived on the South Side but still… he’s still active in the community.
Can’t speak for anyone else on the roster.
No Black writers. Typical Hollywood. How will a middle-age , hollywood white guy tell the story of kids, black, growing up in Chicago? Hmmmm…… Let’s remake Boyz N Hood, too.
They won’t hire a black kid to make copies and fetch their coffee unless they have a graduate degree. What makes you think they would hire a black writer for a multi-million dollar project? If Common, Franklin, etc knew the conversations that occur behind closed doors…they would most likely still rip themselves in half for any opportunity to work with them despite the obvious. Haha. Sad industry.
Stop messing with our African American classics! You screwed up Roots, now you want to blow Cooley High? There are plenty of Cooley High stories today that you can create, so be REAL Artists and produce one! Please! stop this…
Took ’em long enough. Should’ve been a no-brainer years ago.
Apparently they’ve now burned through the UA library and are starting in on the AIP titles. What’s next, BEACH BLANKET BINGO with Zac Efron and Rihanna?
DeVon F ruined Sparkle… Here we go again.
Thank You! Those are my sentiments as well!
DeVon has had this in his dream project list for a while. Kudos!
It better be a writer of color more than anything
MGM rebooting another one of their classics….shocker!
Geez please leave this classic alone. Everything doesn’t need to be remaderemade.
Yet another lazy remake from my once glorious studio.
To quote my ever witty self, “include me out!”
Really? Seth Rosenfeld for Cooley High? You couldn’t have hired Don Scott or Mark Brown or someone actually from Chicago and really authentic, like say, Theodore Witcher, who wrote and directed the classic urban film “Love Jones”?!! You guys are a bunch of fucking idiots… This project is going to suck!
Seth Rosenfeld as WRITER? Are you effing kidding me? That’s analogous to Kenya Barris being attached to write Happy Days. Actually, he’d probably do a decent job on it, but the point is he would NEVER in a hundred years be attached and have it greenlit! WTF?! Common. DeVon. Are you serious?! The double standard in this town is beyond belief.
Ugh….
Rerun
NO#1, I actually live down the street where the actual Cooley high was AND IT WAS NEVER ON the west side, not SOUTH side. It’s THE north side u guys keep YELLING common LIKE he makes a difference, HE don’t, JUST because he FROM Chicago don’t mean shot. Now get your facts right..
While not always a fan of remakes per se, I can personally vouch for the fact that this particular writer can certainly pull this off. Not only is he a great astute writer, but his intellect and grounded sensibilities will suit this project perfectly.
Businesses as Hollywood usual, no women or writers of color. I’m keeping my expectations on mute.
This is shameful. The great Eric Monte, a legendary Black writer, wrote the original and you hire a non-black writer? With all the talented writers out here?
And we complain that #Oscarsowhite. When we are in a position to make a difference we end up being part of the problem.
Thank you for recognizing Mr. Monte good sir.
Thank you for recognizing Mr. Monte good sir!
Why is Eric Monte not a part of this project?
Has all the hallmarks of another Tony Krantz failure. Seth Rosenfeld for a seminal story of black culture? Really? Oh ya, MGM is run by old white guys – nice one Devon
Please no. This one can’t be remade nor does it need to be.
I love how they aren’t even trying to hide that they’re doing this remake just to cash in on the extreme racial tension plaguing the America at the moment.
This the same way Straight Outta Compton got four white writers. You get some black producers who just sell out black writers while wearing their Oscarssowhite t-shirts. Common is the biggest hypocrite here, a man who made his bones in the conscious hip hop movement but is now screwing over his brothers and dating Laura Dern.
Not true (Common & Laura) …..don’t believe everything you hear!
Cooley High was on the near northside of Chicago, not the southside! On the edge of Cabrini-Green. I grew up in Cabrini-Green and my younger brother and sister graduated from Cooley High School.
BLASPHEMY! !! DON’T YALL DARE!!!
How about getting the four actors in the photo to work on the film? Get these old heads(or others) living in the here & now to adapt the story to today’s headlines? Surely you don’t expect some white guys to do this justice. No offense to the white guys who want to participate in such an important classic film remake. I love Common and I hope he has enough influence to not allow this project become a disappointment and embarrassment to our culture, history, and community.