Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) on Netflix
R20212h 6mBiographyDramaHistory
William O'Neal is arrested in Chicago after posing as a federal officer to hijack a car. The FBI offers a deal: infiltrate the Black Panther Party and report on Fred Hampton.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.4/10116,209 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
A young petty criminal named William O'Neal is caught in Chicago trying to take a car while pretending to be a federal officer, and FBI agent Roy Mitchell offers to make the charges go away. O'Neal goes undercover, gathering intelligence on Fred Hampton, who leads the Black Panther Party in Illinois, and the two men grow close. Hampton seeks partnerships with rival gangs and militia groups, expands the party's Free Breakfast for Children Program, and through his speeches helps build the multiracial Rainbow Coalition. He falls in love with Deborah Johnson, another party member. O'Neal relays what he learns to Mitchell, who pays him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Before Shaka King's film, an earlier Fred Hampton screenplay had F. Gary Gray in talks to direct, Casey Affleck and John Powers Middleton in negotiations to produce, and Jaden Smith and O'Shea Jackson Jr. being eyed to portray Hampton; after that version fell through, King and Will Berson rewrote it.
- Both leads, Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield, were campaigned for leading actor Oscar nominations but were nominated for Best Supporting Actor instead, a placement that proved unexpected and confusing to the public and awards pundits.
- Shaka King, Daniel Kaluuya and producer Charles D. King, who provided half of the film's $26 million budget, approached Hampton's widow Akua Njeri and her son Fred Hampton Jr. for their blessing on the film and its casting.
- Editor Kristan Sprague began cutting the film in January 2020, just before dozens of studios were shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, which left crew members working remotely during post-production.
SPOILER
The film's title cards state that William O'Neal kept working as an informant inside the Black Panther Party before taking his own life in 1990, and that a lawsuit against the FBI filed in 1970 was settled 12 years later for $1.85 million.
