Mississippi Burning

Mississippi Burning is a 1988 American crime thriller film directed by Alan Parker and written by Chris Gerolmo that is loosely based on the 1964 investigation into the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in Neshoba County, Mississippi. It stars Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as two FBI agents investigating the disappearance of three civil rights activists in fictional Jessup County, Mississippi, who are met with hostility by the town's residents, local police, and the Ku Klux Klan. Gerolmo began writing the script in 1986 after researching the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. He and producer Frederick Zollo presented it to Orion Pictures, and the studio hired Parker to direct.