There are two** Blackbird**s currently vying for your attention. One is a Hitchcockian conspiracy thriller directed by David Mamet and starring Cate Blanchett. The other is a music-biz romance coming together at Relativity, with Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Secret Life Of Bees) at the helm. It's the latter that concerns us this morning, with the news that Minnie Driver and rapper Machine Gun Kelly have both joined the cast. Danny Glover is already on board, along with Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Undercovers, Touch, Odd Thomas) and Nate Parker (Red Tails).
The film is about Noni Jean (Mbatha-Raw), a musician on the verge of superstardom who's buckling under the pressure and on the verge of suicide until her emotional life is turned around by local cop Kaz (Parker). Their parents urge them to put their careers before their relationship, but together they're able to break free from those controlling voices and find their own direction.
Driver will play Mbatha-Raw's pushy mom. MGK, making his movie debut in a role not a million miles from his own persona, will play Kid Cuprit, a rapper on Noni's label with whom she collaborates before going solo.
Terius Nash, AKA prolific singer-songwriter and producer The-Dream will be providing four new songs for the soundtrack. Ryan Kavanaugh (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Zombieland) and Stephanie Allain (Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan) are among the producers, and the film is currently in production, with an eye on a release next year.