Fox Searchlight Hoping to Acquire Screen Rights to Memoir, “Solitary”

Fox Searchlight is reportedly working to secure the screen rights to the Albert Woodfox memoir, Solitary. Oscar winning actor, Mahershala Ali would executive produce as well as star as Woodfox.

What’s happening:

  • According to Deadline, Fox Searchlight is working on a deal to acquire the screen rights to the memoir, Solitary
  • Written by Albert Woodfox, the book tells his true story of the 43 years he was forced to spend in solitary confinement in a Louisiana prison.
  • Reports also suggest that Mahershala Ali would come on board to executive produce the film and star as Woodfox.  
  • The creative team would include:
    • Executive Producer:
      • Mahershala Ali
      • Carolyn Grovers
    • Producers:
      • Jamie Patricof
      • Katie McNeill

About Solitary:

  • Woodfox shares his story about being sentenced to solitary confinement for the murder of a prison guard that he says he did not commit.
  • His time in solitary is the longest stretch served in the United States. For the 43 years of his sentence, Woodfox spent 23 hours a day in a 6 by 9 foot cell. He’d be allowed one hour in a day in a concrete exercise yard, but always alone.
  • Deadline writes, “Much of the tale in solitary is about his kinship with two other wrongly accused men with whom he managed to communicate and organize protests and hunger strikes and eventually reforms at Angola, despite their hardship.”
  • Woodfox was released in 2016 and now lives in New Orleans.