Motion Picture: Director Jordan Peele Teases New Horror Film 'Nope' On His Twitter Feed; Lebron James & Adam Sandler Co-produce 'Hustle' On Netflix; Aziz Ansari To Star and Direct Comedy Film
Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi: After the success of both Get Out (2017) and Us (2019), director Jordan Peele has announced the title for his newest horror film, Nope. The director scarcely gave out any information on his latest project except a cloud emoji and the movie poster on his Twitter account. The film will reunite him with actor Daniel Kaluuya with whom he has worked in the past on the set of Get Out.
Voice-over and TV show actress Stephanie Beatriz has been cast for the horror film History Of Evil. The actress is best known for her voice in Disney’s Encanto, Netflix’s Bojack Horseman, and The Lego Movie 2 as well as her role as detective Rosa Diaz in NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine. After she recently appeared in the feature film In The Heights, the actress will now continue on the big screen in this horror film written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Bo Mirhosseni. The film will start production in the Spring of 2022.
Ravi Patel will join the cast of Sony’s adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon. The live-action adaptation of the best-selling children’s fantasy book will star Zachary Levi and Zooey Deschanel. Academy Nominee Carlos Saldanha will be directing the film with Lil Rel Howery. Originally published in 1955, the book follows the story of a small boy who with the power of his crayon creates new imaginative worlds.
Aziz ansari - Paul Morigi / Stringer
Comedy: Comedian Aziz Ansari is making his feature directorial debut in his newest project. The untitled comedy-drama will see Ansari star alongside comedy legend Bill Murray. In addition to directing the film and acting in it, Ansari wrote the screenplay and is one of the executive producers. The Searchlight-produced film is based on Atul Gawande’s nonfiction novel “Being Mortal: Medicine And What Matters In The End” and will be coming out in theaters sometime in 2023.
Netflix has closed a deal with stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle for another four comedy specials. The comic who is idolized by some and despised by others due to some of his controversial jokes will have a special invite on each of his shows. The four-episode special will be called Chappelle’s Home Team and will have other comics on such as Earthquake (Nathanial Martin Stroman) and Donnel Rawlings.
Sonja Sun - Gary Gershoff
Drama: The trailer for the Lebron James and Adam Sandler produced film Hustle about a young man trying to get into professional basketball has been released. Hustle will star Spanish NBA star for the Utah Jazz, Juancho Hernangomez, as a young player from Spain, and Adam Sandler as a tough-love coach and talent scout, who will work hard with the rookie to get a chance at making it to the NBA league. Jeremiah Zagar will direct the NBA star-studded film that will be available on Netflix on June 10th.
Sony has added Jasmine Matthews, Sonja Sohn, John Magaro, and Shein Mompremier to the cast of George Foreman’s biopic film. The as of yet untitled biopic on the two-time heavyweight champions of the world will be directed by George Tillman Jr. and will star the previously announced actors Khirs Davis, Sullivan Jones, and Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker. The film will recount the exceptional life Foreman from Olympic Gold Medalist, Heavy Weight Champion, and fighting Muhamed Ali in Zair, to finding faith, retiring from boxing, and becoming a preacher.
Maya Cade
Industry Updates: Maya Cade was interviewed this week by The Hollywood Reporter on what inspired her to create The Black Film Archive. In June of 2020, amid social injustice protests triggered by police brutality, the New Orleans native started compiling a list of Black films (pre- 1959) that had entered the public domain. What had started as a thread on Twitter soon became a website. Ms. Cade, who is now an audience development strategist at Criterion Collection stated that she started it all in the search of what it means to make Black Film history accessible for everyone.