Dyllón Burnside will star in the upcoming biopic of Detroit native Dwen Curry, “Fighting To Be Me: The Dwen Curry Story.”
First featured in the BET+ hit unscripted series “American Gangster: Trap Queens,” the film reunites executive producers Tressa Azarel Smallwood and Judge Greg Mathis.
Burnside (Pose) is set to lead alongside D.B. Woodside (9-1-1: Lone Star) and A.J. Johnson (Baby Boy) in supporting roles. The biopic was written by La Jill Hunt.
Born amid the infamous Detroit riots of the late sixties, and raised during the height of the eighties crack cocaine epidemic, Dwen Curry’s story is a layered and complex true-crime drama that redefines what it means to be Gay, Black, and Gangster, in America.
Love, identity, and family collide, in this gripping tale dripping with Oakland swagger, when celebrity stylist and fashion icon, Dwen Curry, secretly finances a lavish lifestyle by fraudulently acquiring millions to build a criminal empire and survive the violent street lifestyle.
Dwen Curry, Donte Lee, and Delece James also serve as executive producers on “Fighting To Be Me: The Dwen Curry Story,” with Joe Carroll on board to direct. Vanda Lee, Kristin Iris Johnson, and Smallwood are producing the film for MegaMind Media.
The first biopic based on the “American Gangster: Trap Queens” series, “First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story,” also executive produced by Smallwood and Mathis, earned nominations for Outstanding Original Television Movie and Outstanding Directing In A Television Movie (Vivica A. Fox), for BET+ at the 2024 NAACP Image Awards.
