Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in talks to join 'Trial of Chicago 7'

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is in final-stage negotiations to aboard Aaron Sorkin's historical drama "Trial of Chicago 7". The film is based on the infamous 1969 trial of seven men charged by the federal government with conspiracy, arising from the counterculture protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

The trial transfixed the nation and sparked a conversation intended to undermine the US government. If the goes through, the "Aquaman" star will play Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale, who was one of the original eight that were charged, reported Variety.

Seale's case was eventually severed from the other defendants, leading to the "Chicago Seven" moniker. He was bound and gagged in front of the gallery and jury by order of the presiding judge, and was sentenced to four years in prison for 16 counts of contempt of court for his continued outbursts during the proceedings. While still in prison, he was put on trial again as part of the New Haven Black Panther trials in 1970 over the murder of Alex Rackley, a Panther who had admitted under torture to being a police informant and was subsequently murdered. Seale was alleged to have ordered the killing; the trial eventually ended in a mistrial.

Sorkin is directing from his own script. The cast also features Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Frank Langella, Mark Rylance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jeremy Strong.

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