Cher performing during her “Dressed to Kill Tour” ( David Carroll/Flickr)
As Flint, Michigan, continues to struggle with severe water contamination three years running, a TV movie based on the catastrophe starring singer-actress Cher is in the works.
The film “Flint” will air on Lifetime, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Cher is set to play a resident of the city whose family is affected by the lead-contaminated water. Additionally, the 70-year-old will be an executive producer along with journalist Katie Couric and two others, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan. Poland-born Barbara Stepansky will write the script, while Australian director Bruce Beresfordnone will helm the film.
None of those behind the movie reflect the city’s 57 percent Black population. However, Cher has been involved in aiding locals by providing more than 181,000 bottles of water last year.
“I felt like I needed to do something,” Cher told Billboard of her donation in January 2016. “I mean, people have known that the [Flint] river was polluted forever. Why would they go to that as the water source? It’s mind-boggling.”
“Flint” is inspired by by a Time cover story published in February 2016 called “The Toxic Tap.” The piece detailed the anger many residents felt towards city leaders over their mishandling of the water crisis. The film will explore what led to the disaster, including poor management, and the devastation inflicted on residents, including citizens whose plights were overlooked.
The TV movie, which does not have a release date, comes at a time when Flint is still attempting to sort through who is responsible for the crisis. In December, Atlanta Black Star reported Bill Schuette, Michigan’s attorney general, filed charges against former public works superintendent Howard Croft, ex-utilities administrator Daugherty Johnson and ousted emergency managers Gerald Ambrose and Darnell Earley. Those charges followed others against several additional officials and amounted to 13 who were blamed for the city’s health emergency.
