Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA is gearing up for his directorial debut with the highly anticipated crime thriller “Cut Throat City” set for a July 17 release date.
Directed by RZA and written by P.G. Cuschieri, Cut Throat City stars Demetrius Shipp Jr., Denzel Whitaker, Isaiah Washington, Kat Graham, Keenan Johnson, Shameik Moore, and Tip T.I. Harris, with Eiza González, Ethan Hawke, Terrence Howard, and Wesley Snipes.
Distributed by Texas-based Well Go USA and Patriot Pictures, the feature will be one of the first films to open wide theatrically as theaters begin to reopen nationwide. Well Go USA said it plans to release the film on 300 screens across the U.S.
The film reveals the story of four childhood friends in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward who return after Hurricane Katrina to find their homes decimated with no jobs and no help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Out of options, they reluctantly turn to a local gangster, who offers them one shot at turning their situations around — by pulling off a dangerous heist in the heart of the city. When the job goes bad, the friends find themselves on the run, hunted by two relentless detectives and a neighborhood warlord who thinks they made off with the heist money.
“What happens in the black community when men are dreaming of getting out, whether they’re using their music, their artistic expression, or academics, and yet, based on the system and based on natural disasters, those dreams and those aspirations turn into desperation? Well, this takes place in Cut Throat City,” RZA said. “I’m proud to see this film come to fruition and to tell a story about black men living in a poor community trying to figure it out.”
Well Go USA and Patriot Pictures will be donating a portion of the film’s proceeds to Lowernine.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the long-term recovery of New Orleans’ historic Lower Ninth Ward.
Doris Pfardescher, the CEO of Well Go USA, highlighted the film’s foundation, saying, “Coming up on the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, it’s more important than ever to amplify and celebrate black voices. We are proud to be working with RZA on this powerful film.
