Don Cheadle is bring the story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street’s first Black millionaire, to the big screen.
The actor has acquired the film and TV rights to Prince of Darkness by Shane White and will team up with Steven Baigleman, who worked with him on the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead, to write the script.
via THR:
Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street’s First Black Millionaire sheds light on the obscure story of Hamilton, who was mentioned in an obituary for Cornelius Vanderbilt as the tycoon’s true rival. White’s book details the rise of Hamilton as he is chased out of Haiti and becomes a broker and land agent in 19th century New York, his success prickling both white and black society. He broke many taboos of the times, including marrying a white woman and owning stock in rail companies on whose trains he wasn’t legally allowed to ride. When Hamilton died, obits at the time called him the richest black man in America.
The book has been awarded the Society of Historians of the Early American Republic’s best book prize and the 2016 New York City Book Award.
Cheadle may be best known for playing hero James Rhodes, aka War Machine, in the Marvel Iron Man and Captain America movies. He also is the Golden Globe-winning star of House of Lies, which ran five seasons on Showtime.
This sounds amazing.
