In yet another case of first comes a film, then comes its prequel series, Narcos co-creator Chris Brancato is revisiting at least one character from the acclaimed biopic American Gangster. He is currently developing a series called The Godfather of Harlem that will star Forest Whitaker, Screen Daily reports.
Whitaker is set to play Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson, the mob boss whose death in American Gangster cleared the way for Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) to take over the Harlem criminal underworld. Johnson was portrayed in the film as a mentor to Lucas, but his screen time was limited — in fact, the actor who portrayed him, Clarence Williams III, went uncredited. With Johnson at the center of the project, we’ll get to see more of him and his infamous story.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Johnson moved to Harlem as a teenager, where he eventually made a name for himself. A controversial figure, he served multiple stints in prison but also was a hero in the eyes of many Harlem residents. He supported the Harlem Renaissance, even as he was reportedly involved in gambling, bootlegging, prostitution, and drug trafficking operations.
With its focus on Johnson, the project is “essentially the prequel” to American Gangster, according to Brancato. He spoke to Screen Daily while he attended the MIA Market conference in Rome and opened up about the project. Specifically, he revealed that it will be set five years prior to what we saw in the film and will look at what he describes as “the collision of the criminal underworld and the civil rights movement.”
“It’s an opportunity to examine some of the things that are going on racially right now, but through the prism of the past,” Brancato told Screen Daily.
At this point, the project does not have a home, but it is expected to be shopped to streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. In the meantime, there is a script, and Brancato is working to get Kendrick Lamar on board for the show’s music. That is an intriguing possibility, and it seems like a good fit given the rapper’s willingness to tackle issues of race head-on.
No timeline for its release has yet been announced.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.