HBO to Film Derrick Bell Novel

Bell's nuanced book to see cable.

HOLLYWOOD, CA - HBO Films will forge ahead on a project based on controversial Professor Derrick Bell's fact/fiction book, Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism. Currently in pre-production, the film will weave together a series of short stories highlighting Bell's theory that racism is a permanent American feature and any belief in a progressive journey to equality is a "sugarcoated myth." Casting has been a closely guarded secret, but there are rumors that Danny Glover has been signed, pending his return from vacation in Cuba. In addition, sources inside the production have stated cameo roles are being written for Reverend Jeremiah Wright and New Black Panther Party President Malik Zulu Shabazz.

The film will combine statistics on white racism with fictional topics such as the selling of a license allowing white people to openly discriminate against blacks. Other tales involve the bombing of a Harvard president's office that kills all the black faculty, and a science fiction story about aliens who promise to solve Mankind's ills in exchange for all black people on earth.

"This is a story crying out to be told," said Producer Steven Harris-Silage. "Naturally, when the late Professor Bell (who died last year at age 80) discussed racism and depicted Jews as selling out African-Americans, he wasn't talking about anybody at HBO. I just know that deep inside." Slated to be called Faces at the Bottom, the film will stay true to the book's tone. "That may hurt some people's feelings," said Harris-Silage, "but we're HBO. We tell it precisely like it is. Just look at Game Change."
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