Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis has been officially brought on as the lead for Ava DuVernay’s film adaptation of Caste, based on Isabel Wilkerson’s best-selling novel of the same name. The film adaptation of Caste will serve as a reunion for Ellis and DuVernay, who previously worked together on When They See Us, a 2019 Netflix drama also starring Jharrel Jerome.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent is a 2020 historical non-fiction novel where Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson dissects the “unspoken caste system” that dictates American society by passing it through the prism of other caste systems in India and Nazi Germany. Through this lens, Wilkerson examines the “eight pillars” that have supported caste systems throughout history, including divine will, bloodlines, and social stigma, among others. The official book synopsis for Caste describes Wilkerson’s novel as “an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.”
Caste first entered the spotlight after being chosen as the summer 2020 pick for Oprah Winfrey’s book club, according to Deadline, with Oprah herself calling the novel the most “essential read” she’d ever chosen for the club.
Ava DuVernay Plans a Film Adaptation of ‘Caste’
Producer Ava DuVernay, known for her work on projects such as Selma (2014), Queen Sugar (2016), and DMZ (2022), has taken the lead on a film adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste, with the producer returning for her first feature film since 2018’s A Wrinkle in Time. Ava DuVernay will again be working with actress Aunjanue Ellis, who joins Caste in an unnamed lead role.
DuVernay and Ellis previously collaborated on the Netflix crime drama miniseries When They See Us, where Aunjunae Ellis stars as Sharonne Salaam, the mother of Yusef Salaam (Caleel Harris, Jovan Adepo), one of five teenagers falsely accused and imprisoned for raping a white jogger in 1989. Deadline reports that Ellis and co-star Nicey Nash were nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series, or Dramatic Special Primetime Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild Award following their performances in the series.
More details on the film adaptation of Caste, with Ava DuVernay and Aunjunae Ellis, will likely become available as the film continues development.
