‘The Hate U Give’ Recasts Male Lead With ‘Riverdale’ Star After Controversy
By Ben Pearson/April 4, 2018 12:00 pm EST
After wrapping production last November, the movie has hit a slight bump in the road, and The Hate U Give cast is now being shaken up: a new report says the film’s male lead is being replaced after a controversial video of him surfaced online.
Lawley, who was dropped by his agency after the racial slur videos resurfaced, is being replaced by K.J. Apa, who currently plays Archie on The CW’s murder mystery soap Riverdale. Today marks Apa’s first day on the film’s set, where he’ll join the cast for more than a week of reshoots. Amandla Stenberg, who played Rue in The Hunger Games, is playing Starr Carter, the female protagonist who sees her friend shot in front of her. Apa will play her boyfriend, a privileged white kid who attends Starr’s school and has his eyes opened to how different their experiences are due to their different races.
George Tillman Jr., the director of the Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious, the Dwayne Johnson action film Faster, and an underseen 2013 indie called The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, is in the director’s chair here, and he’s secured a solid supporting cast around his young leads. Anthony Mackie, Common, Issa Rae, and Regina Hall are all on board, and the novel’s tremendous success has only fueled anticipation for the movie.
