Spike Lee Raises “Hell” – Derek Luke to Star?

Spike Lee and his production company, 40 Acres and a Mule, has nabbed the rights to "Now the Hell Will Start," a nonfiction book written by Brendan Koerner. Check out the book’s Web site here.

The true story follows Herman Perry, a black Army private during World War II who snapped and went AWOL after shooting an unarmed white lieutenant. Instead of facing the gallows, he ran deep into the Southeast Asian jungle and ended up living with the natives.

I haven’t read the book, but it sounds like a great story that will make a fantastic movie with Spike Lee at the helm. I wonder who they’ll get to play the main character. I kind of hope it’s not Will Smith, because I can’t really see him in that role.

I picture someone more like Derek Luke (pictured). In fact, I’d bet that he might end up in the role, because “Miracle at St. Anna,” in which Luke starred, was also a 40 Acres and a Film movie.

Any thoughts on that? Think I’m right?

Image: Miracle at St. Anna, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2008