The actor, Cillian Murphy, who recently won the Best Actor Academy Award, is going to act in and produce a film with connections to the local area.
The actor from “Oppenheimer” is involved in a movie version of “Blood Runs Coal: the Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America,” according to Variety.
The movie is based on the 2020 book by Mark A. Bradley. It tells the story of the 1969 murders of Joseph A. Yablonski and his wife and daughter in their Clarksville, Washington County home. Yablonski had campaigned to replace Tony Boyle, the corrupt leader of the United Mine Workers of America, before his death. Yablonski supported better working conditions for union members and other changes.
After his murder, the FBI successfully hunted down the killers and workers took over the union, inspiring similar movements in other labor unions.
According to Deadline, Murphy will play Chip Yablonski, a labor lawyer and one of Joseph Yablonski’s surviving sons, who worked hard to bring his father's killers to justice and to bring down Tony Boyle.
The movie adaptation is being developed at Universal, with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, the writers of “Edge of Tomorrow,” working on the screenplay, as Deadline reports.
The Pittsburgh Film Office has not been contacted about the project, according to Dawn Keezer, executive director.
Besides 2023’s “Oppenheimer,” Murphy is known for movies like “28 Days Later,” Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, and “A Quiet Place Part II.” He also starred in the BBC drama series “Peaky Blinders,” which is also being made into a movie.
