Amazon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt Are Tackling The History of the KKK

Amazon has acquired film rights to a period drama on the post-Civil War rise of America’s biggest white supremacist group, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

K Troop details the KKK’s birth and expansion through the southern United States in 1865, as well as the elite U.S. Army force known as K Troop, who were responsible for stomping out the hate group in 1871.

There is no writer attached the film at present, but K Troop will be produced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt through his hitRECord Films banner. The actor may also star as the film’s key character, Major Lewis Merrill. The leader of the secretive division, Merrill was a brilliant military strategist who developed an extensive informant network; one that included local African-Americans. Those involved were known for risking their lives to reveal the secretive workings of the KKK.

The film is based on a soon-to-be-published article for Slate, written by Matthew Pearl. Having written for The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Atavist Magazine, Pearl is an experienced author, having penned five novels. His international bestsellers have been translated into more than 30 languages.

Gordon-Levitt was most recently attached to Universal’s untitled musical comedy co-starring Channing Tatum, as well as Oliver Stone’s upcoming film Snowden.