Charlamagne Tha God, ‘John Wick’ Producer Basil Iwanyk’s New Company Southland Stories Sets Jonathan Majors Film ‘True Threat’ as First Project (EXCLUSIVE)
Charlamagne Tha God and "John Wick" producer Basil Iwanyk's first project at Southland Stories is "True Threat," starring Jonathan Majors.
variety.com
Charlamagne Tha God, ‘John Wick’ Producer Basil Iwanyk’s New Company Southland Stories Sets Jonathan Majors Film ‘True Threat’ as First Project (EXCLUSIVE)
Rebecca RubinMay 6, 2025 6:48am PT
The Tyler Twins for Variety
Charlamagne Tha God and “John Wick” producer Basil Iwanyk are teaming up to launch Southland Stories, a production company that focuses on Southern voices. Their first project as producers will be “True Threat,” a revenge thriller starring Jonathan Majors.
“True Threat” is scheduled to begin production this summer. It’s one of several films in the pipeline as Southland Stories starts to ramp up its output. Directed and written by Gerard McMurray and produced by Alexis Garcia of Cat5, “True Threat” follows a special forces operative out for vengeance after his teenage son is killed by gang members. The movie is among Majors’ first roles since he was convinced in 2023 of third degree assault and harassment.
“Films like ‘True Threat’ are exactly why we created Southland Stories,” said Charlamagne Tha God. “It’s vital to show that Black creatives can thrive across all genres. Gerard McMurray and Jonathan Majors are extremely talented individuals.”
Films from Southland Stories will span all genres and focus on “real-life tales” as well as scripted narratives. Charlamagne, a radio host and entrepreneur and Iwanyk, co-founder of Thunder Road Pictures and Asbury Park Pictures, along with producer Karen Kinney, said the joint venture of Southland Stories was founded to “spotlight bold, authentic stories often overlooked in mainstream cinema.”
As Variety first reported in March, Charlamagne launched the movie production company with Iwanyk because he feels the life and culture of the American South has been overshadowed by urbanity in pop culture.
“I feel like we live in a country that’s focused on a lot of the same stories,” he said in the cover story. “Coming from where I come from, I just always felt like we didn’t have people amplifying our voices, amplifying our stories, the way that the New Yorks did and the Los Angeleses did.”
