Dawn Porter has a new project on the way. Fusion has commissioned an hour-long documentary from the “Trapped” helmer, Realscreen reports. “Fatherless” will focus on “Grace & Frankie” actor and comedian Baron Vaughn as he searches for his biological father, who he has never met.
According to the source, the film “mixes personal interviews with his mother, friends, experts, and colleagues in order to illustrate that circumstances don’t define the person you can become. “Fatherless” also “analyzes how Vaughn had to formulate his own construct of the black male identity, with no father to teach him.” The doc will trace how his identity was influenced by comedians including Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and the Wayans brothers.
“Arrested Development,” “Comedy Bang! Bang!” and “Cloverfield” are among Vaughn’s credits.
“The truth is always important to have, even if you don’t like what you hear… it doesn’t need you, you need the truth,” he said in a statement. “Learning what I did throughout this process helped me to release a lot of baggage. The sandbags on the hot air balloon of life were weighing me down and I’ve finally been able to cut them off and take off into the sky.”
Porter is one of the project’s executive producers. Her most recent film, “Trapped,” investigated how women’s reproductive rights have been impacted by “TRAP” (targeted regulation of abortion providers) laws that have been passed by conservative state legislatures across the U.S. Her other directing credits include “Gideon’s Army,” a portrait of public defenders, and “Spies of Mississippi,” an examination of a state-funded secret spy agency formed to preserve segregation.
“Fatherless” will premiere on Fusion April 2 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
