Steven Silver, Nicola Peltz Topline ‘The Obituary of Tunde Johnson’

EXCLUSIVE: Steven Silver (13 Reasons Why), Nicola Peltz (Transformers: Age of Extinction), and Spencer Neville (Ozark) are set to star in The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, with production slated to commence this week in Los Angeles. Ali LeRoi is directing the indie drama based on a script written by Nigerian-born USC student Stanley Kalu.

Set in Southern California, the film centers on Tunde Johnson (Silver), a queer, black prep school senior who finds himself in an endless loop of police brutality. Soren O’Connor (Neville) is Johnson’s all-American athlete boyfriend who hides his sexuality from both his conservative father and society by maintaining a relationship with Tunde’s best friend Marley Meyers (Peltz).

Producers are Jason Shuman and Zachary Green, co-creators of the million-dollar screenplay competition called The Launch, which selected Kalu’s script as its first winner. Philanthropists Chuck and Marni Bond are also producing.

Silver, who stars as Marcus Cole in Netflix’s hit 13 Reasons Why series, most recently wrapped production on the indie All the Little Things We Kill with Elizabeth Marvel, and has a role in the upcoming film Beef, starring Timothy Olyphant, Thomas Mann, and Jai Courtney. He’s repped by Innovative Artists, Management 360, and Skrzyniarz & Mallean.

Peltz, repped by WME, Definition Entertainment, and Sloane, Offer Weber & Dern, was most recently seen alongside Alex Pettyfer and Jennifer Morrison in Back Roads, which was directed by Pettyfer, as well as IFC Midnight’s thriller Our House, Amazon’s Youth in Oregon, and Hulu’s When The Street Lights Go On.

Pakula King & Associates and Inphenate reps Neville, who has a recurring role in Freeform’s The Fosters spinoff series Good Trouble and starred in the Fullscreen limited series The Deleted from Brett Easton Ellis.