Musician John Legend will be seen as singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte in Bill Condon's The Road Home. The film is a music-driven drama about the political storm set off following the creation of Paul Simon's 1980s album, Graceland.
The film, set against the backdrop of apartheid South Africa, focuses on Simon (Johnny Flynn), who defies the United Nations' cultural boycott against the country to record with township musicians to create the Grammy-winning album, Graceland. The story is narrated through the perspective of the exiled South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela (Thabo Rametsi), who is forced to choose between his mentor and leader of the anti-Apartheid Movement, Trevor Huddleston (Guy Pearce), and his conviction that music can transform South Africa. As Huddleston calls for a boycott of Simon, Masekela parts ways from him, along with his fellow vocalist "Mama Africa" Makeba (Cynthia Erivo), who wants to team up with Simon to form the Graceland band, a superband with a noble vision of taking South Africa's music to the world.
Condon directs the film, with a script from Michael Bronner. He penned the script based on a story by Bronner and South African novelist Zakes Mda. Anant Singh, Bronner, Greg Yolen, and Laura Bickford are producing the film.
