Isaiah Washington and Tequan Richmond star as John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo in upcoming film about the DC area sniper shootings
With no official release date for 2012, the story of the D.C. area sniper shootings is being retold on film. The cinema blog Shadow and Act reports the thriller Blue Caprice, directed by Alexandre Moors and written by Ronald Porto, is currently being filmed in New York. It stars Isaiah Washington (Love Jones, Grey’s Anatomy) as John Allen Muhammad and Tequan Richmond (Everybody Hates Chris) as Lee Boyd Malvo.
Nearly ten years ago, the D.C. metro area was under siege. People were trying to move about their daily lives as news reports touted warnings about armed suspects in a white work van/truck randomly shooting people. Eventually, the reports changed as the police were looking for a blue Chevrolet Caprice. For the most part, people were carrying on as if there wasn’t a psychotic killer on the loose. Yet, the shootings was the topic of everyone’s conversation; even to the point that people were assuming it was a white male expressing his anger with the world.
No one wanted to live in fear, but fear was residing close by as no one knew who the next target would be. The killing spree lasted three weeks. In the end, ten people were killed and two black males, Muhammad and Malvo, along with their blue Caprice was taken into custody.
Since Muhammad’s execution, and with Malvo currently serving a life sentence, the story seemed to have been tucked away in the attic’s of a lot of people’s minds. However, Muhammad’s ex-wife Mildred Muhammad has taken the opportunity to turn the terror and tragedy of the situation to speak against domestic violence and mental health needs, especially for those coping with domestic abuse. It has been reported that Muhammad’s killing spree was part of a plot to eventually go after his ex-wife, with whom he reportedly abused. Mildred had fled her home in Washington state and relocated in Maryland as a means to “run” from John.
The 34-second teaser on the film does leave a half chilling-half mocking feeling as it features a blue Chevrolet Caprice cruising along (what looks to be) Interstate 95 near the Dulles/Northern Virginia area at dusk (or is that sunrise?). The music accompany the cruise is very Jaws meets errie soprano saxophone; as if an attack is coming.
As I already loathe the fact that Muhammad and Malvo are known as the D.C. Sniper(s) (there was only one victim inside the District, all the other victims were in MD and VA), I can only wonder how audiences here in the DC area (along the beltway) will grasp it. After all we lived it for nearly a month, only a year after 9-11. It’s a wonder that not every single person in this area is on an anti-depressant….or are we?
Mahoganie: Musings East of the Anacostia River 
June 12th, 2012 → 2:40 pm
[…] movie based on the D.C. area sniper events, is receiving a boost. It was just last September when I blogged how Shadow and Act caught wind that the movie is in production and presented a 34 second trailer. Since that time, no new info had been released, including an […]