“Brooklyn’s Finest”

This Friday, Overture Films will be releasing the cop drama Brooklyn’s Finest on over 1800 screens. Starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Wesley Snipes, the movie is described on IMDB as being about “three unconnected Brooklyn cops [who] wind up at the same deadly location after enduring vastly different career paths.”

The screenwriter is Michael C. Martin whose remarkable personal story — how he ventured into screenwriting and how his script “Brooklyn’s Finest” wound its way into becoming a major motion picture — was recounted in this NY Times feature. Here’s a key excerpt:

As strange a scene as it was that day in a neighborhood more accustomed to real-life drama, even more extraordinary is the story of how Mr. Martin, a 28-year-old former subway worker from East New York, Brooklyn, came to write “Brooklyn’s Finest,” a gritty thriller starring Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Mr. [Richard] Gere as police officers in a housing project. Mr. Martin, who in his dusty white FUBU sneakers, denim shorts and a short-sleeve, button-up shirt looked that day more like a college senior than a Hollywood writer, is a onetime film student who remains a few credits shy of his degree from Brooklyn College. His most recent job was subway flagger with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; he waved flags and set up warning lights in subway tunnels to warn approaching trains that construction crews were working on the tracks.

It’s a great saga that I was happy to post on here and here.

As it turns out, Michael C. Martin is a GITS reader and has graciously agreed to do a Q&A interview — thanks, Michael!

In the meantime, here is the latest trailer for Brooklyn’s Finest:

The movie’s website is here.

And here is the movie’s Wikipedia page.

The movie’s director is Antoine Fuqua, who also directed Training Day. Hell of a cast. Strong director. Interesting story. Here’s hoping Brooklyn’s Finest is a hit.

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