Variety is reporting that Matthew Modine (Stranger Things), James Earl Jones (The Lion King) and newcomer Shane Paul McGhie are set to star in the indie drama Foster Boy, which is being directed by Youssef Delara (The Bounce Back) from a script by attorney-turned-screenwriter Jay Paul Deratany.
Foster Boy is based on Deratany’s own experiences as a litigator in Chicago, and sees Modine playing a character at the center of a trial revolving around a for-profit corporation, contracted by the state to provide foster children safe homes, that places a known sex offender into a foster home with other clients — with catastrophic results.
“There are an estimated 400,000 children in foster care in America,” said Deratany. “They are basically unrepresented, with few ways to shape their destinies. Why? One simple reason: they are children. They have no money and they have no voice. It’s not that they are bad kids. Our system is broken.”
Foster Boy is set to begin filming in Los Angeles this coming week, with Deratany, Peter Samuelson, Anne-Marie Mackay, and Andrew Sugerman serving as producers.