Motion Picture: Mandip Gill, Keke Palmer, Magic Johnson
Mandip Gill - Gary Gershoff
Comedy: A Doctor Who actress is gearing up for an interactive rom com. Mandip Gill is set to star in Five Dates, the story of a London millennial who joins a dating app while he’s in quarantine. Viewers will be able to choose between five different women and see how Vinny, the male lead, interacts with the women and their different personalities. Good Gate Media is producing the project on the heels of their recent, successful interactive film, The Complex. Marisa Abela, Georgia Hirst, Sinead Harnett and Taheen Modak will also be starring in the project. The filming is set to be done remotely from iPhones. Paul Raschid wrote the script and will also be directing.
A.R. Rahman - JAISWAL
Drama: A trailblazing athlete is getting their own film. Doug Williams, the first black quarterback to win the Super Bowl, will be getting his own biopic from Will Packer Productions. James Lopez along with Packer will produce the film while a writer is still to be announced. Williams won the Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins. The movie will follow his life and his inspirational story of achieving success. Will Packer Productions recently had success with films like Girls Trip and Night School.
A New York Times story is becoming a motion picture. “Running Out of Children, a South Korea School Enrolls Illiterate Grandmothers” by Choe Sang-Hun, a story from the newspapers April 2019 issue, is being produced by CJ Entertainment and Anonymous Content. Barry writer Jason Kim will adapt the story for the screen. The story depicts the real-life tale of a South Korean school opening its doors to women longing to read after declining birth rates left rural schools unoccupied. CJ Entertainment is fresh off the Oscar winning hit Parasite.
A groundbreaking black woman is tapped for a new project. Dianne Houston, the only black women to be nominated for a work she has directed, will write and direct The Melony Armstrong Story. The movie is based on the true story of Melony Armstrong, a woman wanting to start a natural hair braiding business in Mississippi. The movie comes from the Moving Picture Project and will be produced by Lana Link, Rob Pfaltzgraff and Stacey Parks. Armstrong herself will executively produce alongside Nick Reid.
An Oscar winning composer is lending his musical stylings to another Indian film. A.R. Rahman of Slumdog Millionaire notoriety has signed on to co-produce and compose No Land’s Man. The film follows a South Asian man whose life gets complicated when he falls for an Australian woman while in the United States. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki will direct. Indian star Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Australian actor Megan Mitchell and Bangladeshi musician Than Rahman Khan will star in the film. Post-production is currently underway.
Ervine “Magic” Johnson - Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Documentary: A new documentary is going to be filled with magic. Basketball superstar Earvin “Magic” Johnson will be the subject of a new doc from XTR, H.wood Media, NSV and Delirio Films. A director is to be announced.
A famous prison rebellion is the subject of a new documentary with a notable director. Attica will take a deep dive into the five-day prison rebellion in upstate New York and the roles politics, race, power and punishment played. The Emmy winning director of Freedom Fighters and The Murder of Emmett Till, Stanley Nelson will direct. The doc is being produced by Nelson’s Fireflight and Topic Studios. It is set to premiere on Showtime in 2021.
lionel Richie - ABC
Musical: A musical legend is inspiring an entire movie. Disney Studios is in the beginning stages of a movie based on Lionel Richie. All Night Long will be based upon the singer’s greatest hits and resemble a Mamma Mia type movie. The American Idol judge will produce alongside his manager Bruce Eskowitz as well as Dana Brunetti and Matt Del Piano. Pete Chiarelli, the co-writer of Crazy Rich Asians, will write the script.
KeKe Palmer - Steven Ferdman/FilmMagic
Thriller: The popular “Sticky” singer will star in a new movie. KeKe Palmer has signed on to star in as well as produce a new thriller, Alice. The movie will be inspired by the true story of a women who escapes a life of servitude in 1800’s Georgia only to discover it is 1973. Krystin Ver Linden will write and direct while Peter Lawson, Jose Agustin Valdes, and Luisa Fernanda Espinosa will produce. The project will begin shooting in August.