Sometimes the internet offers up a wonderful surprise that isn't a cat video. Take, for example an online sensation that sprang up after a photograph on Tumblr of Lupita Nyong'o and Rihanna from a fashion show in 2014 sparked calls for a buddy movie directed by Ava DuVernay. That has now coalesced into an actual film idea.
What started with a single post of the picture captioned by Tumblr user "elizabitchtalor" as: "They look like they’re in a heist movie with Rihanna as the tough-as-nails leader/master thief and Lupita as the genius computer hacker." A plot was born and a campaign started for DuVernay, currently at work on Disney's A Wrinkle In Time to direct. Issa Rae, creator, writer and star of HBO series Insecure was roped in to write the script and what could've been just a joke across different platforms turned into a pitch for a movie.
Cut to this year's Cannes Film Festival market, and Netflix triumphing over several competitors to win the chance to back and distribute the movie. Rae is at work on the script – there has yet to be official word on whether it'll use the concept, but Entertainment Weekly heard from her representatives that the people who suggested the idea for the movie will be credited somehow, so expect it to at least feature some of the concept. And once she has finished the post-production and promotional process for Wrinkle, the aim is for DuVernay to start shooting next year. Truly, we live in interesting times, which in this case, are leading to a great result.
Nyong'o will next be seen – at least her performance capture work and voice in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, out on 15 December. Then she has Black Panther landing on 16 February next year. Rihanna is part of the cast for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, which arrives here on 4 August, and Ocean's Eight, not set for release until next year.
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