Jamie Foxx Joins Anthony Mackie In Cop Scandal Film SIGNAL HILL

Jamie Foxx will be working once again with Ray helmer Taylor Hackford as he has joined the cast of his latest film project Signal Hill. The cop scandal drama was written by David McMillan and Foxx will join the previously cast Anthony Mackie as attorney Johnnie Cochran, and Elizabeth Banks as an investigative newspaper reporter who investigated and broke stories on the coverup.

Long before he defended O.J. Simpson in the trial of the century, Cochran established himself as a legal superhero because of his unrelenting pursuit of justice in the Signal Hill police brutality case in 1981.

Foxx will take on the role of Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt. He was a former Black Panther party leader and Vietnam vet who was convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison for 27 years. Cochran was the lawyer who helped Pratt to settle a false imprisonment suit for $4.5 million back in 1992. The news comes from Deadline, who goes on to offer more background on Cochran:

While Cochran would go on to represent celebrities from Simpson to Michael Jackson and Jim Brown, his rise to fame as an advocate for blacks suffering in police brutality cases was galvanized by his work in the landmark Signal Hill case. He represented a football player, Cal State Long Beach star Ron Settles, who had been picked up for speeding in Signal Hill, in Los Angeles County. Shortly after his arrest, he was found hanged in his cell. The police called it a suicide, but an autopsy — performed after Cochran persuaded Settles’ family to exhume the body — showed that he had been choked to death. The family was awarded $760,000 in a civil suit, the police chief resigned, and reforms were mandated.

Based on Foxx's track record, I think we can expect an exceptional performance from him in this role. I'm looking forward to seeing it.