And now for some news that’s surreal in a good way. According to Entertainment Weekly, a buddy comedy starring Rihanna and Lupita Nyong’o is officially in the works. Ava DuVernay, director and writer of Selma and 13th, will helm the project. Issa Rae, writer and star of Insecure — aka the best thing to come out of HBO since Game of Thrones — will pen the script. Four talented melanin goddesses, one creative project? This is gonna be good.
To think it all began with a meme. In April, Pascal Le Segretain’s epic photo of Rihanna and Lupita Nyong’o sitting front row at Miu Miu’s Fall 2015 show went viral thanks to Twitter’s @1800SADGAL, who astutely observed that it looked like a still from the world’s greatest heist movie/baddy flick (n. a buddy flick starring two awesome females).
Rihanna looks like she scams rich white men and lupita is the computer smart best friend that helps plan the scans https://t.co/PhWs1xd3nj
— WHOOPHERASSKOURTNI (@1800SADGAL) April 18, 2017
After that, scores of Twitter users began to tweet excitedly about the hypothetical project. Nyong’o was the first to answer fans’ calls and (unofficially) sign on. Rihanna quickly seconded the motion. (She is, after all, well versed in the heist movie genre.)
I’m down if you are @rihanna https://t.co/vwHBWeCbFZ
— Lupita Nyong’o (@Lupita_Nyongo) April 21, 2017
I’m in Pit’z https://t.co/Kz0o3lBEmL
— Rihanna (@rihanna) April 23, 2017
Emboldened by the actress’ responses, the film’s would-be producers set their sights on Ava DuVernay and Issa Rae. The director and writer were happy to jump on board.
@MikelleStreet @rihanna Lights set. Camera’s up. Ready to call action for these #queens. pic.twitter.com/NVgqpFeTnu
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) April 24, 2017
@dvrrxll @rihanna pic.twitter.com/XG2WMribGJ
— Issa Rae (@IssaRae) April 23, 2017
As was Netflix, who won the rights to the project in a “very aggressive” bidding war. (No surprise there — it’s a widely known fact that Rih is the epitome of marketing gold.) Vanity Fair reports that Rae has already begun writing the script and that “the original Twitter users who imagined the concept for this film will be credited and included in some form.” Just how true Rae stays to @1800SADGAL’s original “pitch” remains to be seen.
@EW @rihanna @Lupita_Nyongo @ava So all of #BlackTwitter are receiving producer credit on this right?
— Black Girl Nerds (@BlackGirlNerds) May 22, 2017
Production is set to begin in 2018, after DuVernay completes her current project, A Wrinkle in Time. The lesson? Ask (cleverly) and you shall receive nice things.
We deserve nice things. https://t.co/VlbKhLNDIv
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) May 22, 2017
[ via the Cut ]
