Neon has acquired the rights forAva DuVernay’s next movie,Origin, based on the highly acclaimed non fiction book written by Isabel Wilkerson, originally titledCaste: The Origins of Our Discontentsand published in 2020.
The movie is set to debut this month at the Venice International Film Festival, and starsJon Bernthal, Aunjanue Ellis, Niecy Nash-Betts, Vera Farmiga, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Nick Offerman, Connie Nielsen, Audra McDonald, Myles Frost, Blair Underwood, Victoria Pedretti, Isha Blaaker, Leonardo Nam, Donna Mills, Emily Yancy, Finn Wittrock, and Mieke Schymura.
On Tuesday,Neon shared the first trailerfor the film, which you can check below along with the official synopsis:
“While grappling with tremendous personal tragedy, Isabel sets herself on a path of global investigation and discovery. Despite the colossal scope of her project, she finds beauty and bravery while crafting one of the defining American books of our time.”
Originis written, directed and produced by DuVernay, who has gained a lot of popularity after delivering some highly acclaimed moviesI Will FollowandSelma, or the tv seriesWhen They See UsandHome Sweet Home.
Way before James Gunn and Peter Safran assumed their roles as co-CEOs of DC Studios and started developing a new shared universe for the franchise, DuVernay was among the artists that Warner Bros. Pictures wanted working on DC Comics characters. She was developing a movie adaptation ofNew Gods, an alien race created by Jack Kirby.
Beyond that, she managed to deliver a project within the franchise in the form of a tv series adapting the 2019 comic book seriesNaomifor The CW, but it wascanceled after just one seasonin the middle of the crisis the network is still facing.
Related:Jon Bernthal’s 12 Best Movies, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes
The Message Behind Origin
After the amazing reception of her first book,The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, Wilkerson tackles another important issue inCaste: The Origins of Our Discontentswhere she explores her own story.
Through Wilkerson’s perspectivethe book explores the caste systemthat has been shaping our society for generations, and how the modern world still works under the rules of a hierarchical system, where social classes play an essential part in the distribution of roles that almost every individual will play in the future.Caste: The Origins of Our Discontentsdives into how money and power have become the new parameters that govern the social order in daily life, even in the smallest details and from the shadows.
In previous works such asSelmaandWhen They See Us, DuVernay has addressed similar or as complex themes as she does inOrigin, showing how political, social and economic differences in society are constantly reflected in daily life, especially for marginalized groups.
