PLANS are on track for the film adaptation of Who Shot The Sheriff?, a 2012 novel by Vincentian John A Andrew. Production is scheduled to start in Jamaica this year.
Speaking from his home in California, Andrew said he recently cast Salvador Santana, son of pop icon Carlos Santana, in the role of percussionist Max Richards.
The part is not strange for 30-year-old Santana who began playing the drums at age three.
The younger Santana is currently touring the United States with his band. He told the Jamaica Observer that he got the role after Andrew reached out to his manager.
“My manager asked me if I’d be interested in participating in the film. I was immediately overwhelmed with excitement and it didn’t take long for me to say yes,” he said.
Santana hails from the San Francisco Bay area of California where his Mexico-born father rose to fame during the late 1960s when he formed the band that bore his name.
Salvador Santana is looking forward to visiting Jamaica for the first time.
“I love the music. I forever appreciate the positive impact it has had for so many people all around the world,” he said.
Who Shot The Sheriff? is set in the gritty enclaves of Kingston. The plot surrounds Wesley Haynes, a reformed drug dealer accused of shooting sheriff John Brown and his deputy Ron Charles.
Ballistic reports show that the bullets which killed the men match three guns: the sheriff’s, his deputy’s and that of the defendant.
Andrew says the part of Haynes is still up for grabs.
By Cecelia Campbell-Livingston—