Hollywood filmmaker Seth Gordon is gearing up to start directing his next venture titled Tulia, which is set to be a racially charged courtroom drama based on a true story of corruption and conspiracy in the small West Texas town of Tulia.
Mubina Rattonsey has bought the rights of the book -- Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town, which is an incredible true story. He has planned to adapt this book into a film titled Tulia, which will be produced under his banner Zero Gravity Motion Pictures. For this film, he has roped in director Seth Gordon who is known for Horrible Bosses, Baywatch, Freakonomics, King of Kong and Atypical.
"Seth is a dynamic storyteller to say the least, and I'm extremely proud to have him direct this movie. Vanita Gupta is the daughter of an immigrant and a very inspiring and strong woman. 'Tulia' is her story, and for me, it represents what America stands for - the coming together of minds and hearts for justice. Vanita turned the case around, she won it... I was simply fascinated by her will to do the impossible," Mubuna Rattonsey says in a statement released to the media.
Seth Gordon is all thrilled to work on the project Tulia. "Mubina has found an extraordinary true story that is very relevant in today's political climate. I'm excited to bring this important and poignant story to a wider audience, to call attention to what happened in Tulia, and to showcase the incredible and heroic work Vanita Gupta did for its citizens," says the elated director.
In 1999, 39 black people were arrested and charged with dealing powdered cocaine in the tiny west Texas town of Tulia. Despite the flimsiness of the evidence, they were convicted and given sentences as high as 99 years. Tulia is the story of this town; the bust, the trials, and the heroic legal battle that ensued. Vanita Gupta and the NAACP team fought to obtain acquittals in 2004 for the victims.
Tulia weaves the stories of the accused into the larger one of racial injustice, poverty, hysteria, desperation and the American war against drugs. Above all, it is an intense legal thriller as told in Blakeslee's book, which was selected by the Washington Post Book World as one of the eight most important books ever published about the miscarriages of the U.S criminal justice system.
