Fred Hampton biopic has a new name: ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’

Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out”) will play Fred Hampton in the biopic “Judas and the Black Messiah.” | TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images

The upcoming film about the murder of local Black Panther leader Fred Hampton has a new name.

“Judas and the Black Messiah” is the name of the film that aims to tell the story of Hampton, the charismatic chairman of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter who was killed in a 1969 Chicago police raid.

The film, initially titled “Jesus Was My Homeboy,” is directed and co-written by Shaka King (FX’s “Shrill”). Ryan Coogler, who directed Marvel’s “Black Panther” and “Creed,” is signed on as one of the film’s producers.

The film stars Oscar nominee Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out,” “Widows,” “Black Panther”) as Hampton, while LaKeith Stanfield (“Atlanta,” “Sorry to Bother You”) plays William O’Neal, the informant who gave the FBI the floor plans of Hampton’s West Side apartment in the 2300 block of West Monroe Street.

The ensemble cast includes Ashton Sanders (“Moonlight,” “Native Son”), comedian and West Side native Lil Rel Howery, and Martin Sheen (“The Departed,” “The West Wing”).

No release date has been announced, but distributor Warner Bros. said the movie will play “only in theaters.”

The Chicago Police Department, in conjunction with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the FBI, executed a Dec. 4, 1969, predawn raid where Hampton, 21, who was instrumental in mobilizing activist groups from various racial and economic backgrounds from across the city, and fellow Panther Mark Clark, 22, were murdered.

Hampton’s supporters maintained that he was murdered, even though a special coroner’s jury ruled that Hampton and Clark’s deaths were “justifiable.”

Black Panther Party Illinois chapter chairman Fred Hampton speaks at a rally.

The night before the raid, O’Neal, who was Hampton’s security guard and had access to the keys of the Panthers’ headquarters and safe houses, slipped a powerful sleeping drug into Hampton’s drink then left.

Twenty-one years later in 1990, O’Neal killed himself when he ran across the Eisenhower Expressway and was struck by a car.

Earlier this year, Stanfield voiced his initial reluctance on playing O’Neal when he was a guest on the podcast “Jemele Hill Is Unbothered.”

“I’m like, ‘Dude, I don’t know if I could do this man; you know me, I’m the furthest thing from some William O’Neal,’ ” Stanfield told Hill on the Jan. 13 episode. “After I read the script, I was crying for hours, and I never been affected by a script like that; it was just so beautifully tragic and powerful.”

“Judas and the Black Messiah” actor LaKeith Stanfield initially had misgivings when he was approached to play William O’Neal, the informant who gave the FBI the floor plans to Fred Hampton’s West Side apartment.

Hampton’s legacy also will be revisited in another film later this year.

Last month, Netflix announced an Oct. 16 streaming date for “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” a biopic detailing the 1969 trial of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy stemming from the Grant Park protests during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. is scheduled to play the slain Black Panther Party member.