Black Girl Magic done rained all over this project.
Writer and cultural critic Roxane Gay, author of the 2014 book of essays Bad Feminist, is set to have her debut novel adapted into a movie directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Deadline Hollywood reports. “To … tell a black woman’s story and have it directed by a black woman is a dream come true,” Gay tweeted Tuesday.
Gay published An Untamed State last year, and according to Deadline Hollywood, it “tells the powerful, unflinching story of a Haitian-American woman kidnapped for ransom in front of her husband and child. The novel explores the privilege that made her a target and the strength she must draw on to survive and reclaim her life.” Amazon.com calls Gay a “powerful new literary voice.”
Prince-Bythewood is best-known for directing Love and Basketball and The Secret Life of Bees. Mbatha-Raw most recently starred in Concussion and Belle and teamed up with Prince-Bythewood for Beyond the Lights.
Gay, who has been delightedly telling the Twitterverse how this whole deal came about—first she met with the production company and then she sent the novel to Prince-Bythewood—also tweeted that she trusts the director “entirely.”
Can’t wait for this one.
Read more at Deadline Hollywood.