Tyler Perry will direct Six Triple Eight, a WWII movie about the overlooked story of the only all-Black, all-female battalion, for Netflix.
Tyler Perry will be directing Netflix’s upcoming WWII epic Six Triple Eight. The writer-director has made three previous movies for Netflix: A Fall From Grace, A Madea Homecoming, and most recently, A Jazzman’s Blues, which was released in September. Perry’s relationship with the streamer also extends to 2021’s Don’t Look Up. He and Cate Blanchett played morning talk show co-hosts in the Adam McKay-directed film.
As announced by Netflix (via Variety), Perry will now be writing and directing a WWII epic for Netflix titled Six Triple Eight. Perry will be basing the screenplay on Kevin M. Hymel’s article about the 6888th battalion, which was published in WWII History Magazine by Sovereign Media.
What We Know About Six Triple Eight So Far
Until March 14, 2022, when President Joe Biden signed the bill for the group to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the 6888th battalion had not been widely discussed despite making history as the only all-Black, all-female battalion in the war. Six Triple Eight will tell their underrated and overlooked story. As stated in Netflix’s synopsis for the film, the 855 women of the 6888th joined the war effort with very little idea of what they’d be doing: sorting through and fixing the three-year backlog of undelivered mail, a laborious, arduous task.
They did so in record time, sorting 17 million pieces of mail, reconnecting soldiers with their loved ones and a semblance of home in the process. The battalion also faced discrimination, unfamiliar surroundings, and a war-torn country. The motto that kept them going was created by themselves: “No Mail, Low Morale.” Very little has been revealed about the film otherwise, but Perry has the chance to give a platform to those who deserve to be widely known and acclaimed for their services. With this, Six Triple Eight is shaping up to be a poignant and unique movie that could easily set itself apart from other WWII stories.
As a filmmaker, Perry has been broadening his creative palette, choosing to do projects outside of his wildly successful and entertaining Madea franchise. What’s more is that he’s been able to not only keep his status as an important and necessary figure in the entertainment industry but also expand his capabilities and tell stories with even more depth and complex characters. Six Triple Eight has not only the potential to be Perry’s strongest drama yet but also produce moving performances from an ensemble cast in a war film that will stand out in the genre.