Stephanie Allain to co-produce Gina Prince-Bythewood’s BlackbirdPosted by Wilson Morales
August 15, 2013
Blackfilm.com has learned that Stephanie Allain (Peeples, Something New, Hustle & Flow) will be co-producing Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s upcoming film, “Blackbird,” starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Allain will share producung duties with Reggie Rock Bythewood and Gina Prince-Bythewood.
Relativity Media will be releasing the film. Relativity president Tucker Tooley is exec producing with Matt Alvarez
Also featured in the film are Aml Ameen (Lee Daniels’ The Butler, The Maze Runner), Nate Parker, Danny Glover and rapper Machine Gun Kelly, who’s making his feature debut.
Blackbird is the story of Noni Jean, a hot new artist who has just won a Grammy and is primed for stardom. But the pressures of success compel her to nearly end her life until she is saved by a young police officer. They fall hard for each other, despite the protests of their parents who want each to focus on their own career ambitions. But he might be the missing piece to unlock her artistic potential. Ameen will play the role of an A & R rep.
Production will commence in a few weeks in London & Los Angeles. Shooting the film is Director of photography is Tami Reiker and the choreography will be done by Laurieann Gibson, best known for her work with Lady Gaga, Diddy, Nicki Minaj, and Katy Perry. Producing the music for the film is The-Dream.
Allain, who recently served as director of the Los Angeles Film Festival, recently produced Tina Gordon Chism’s Peeples that starred Kerry Washington. Her other production credits include Sanaa Hamri’s Something New that starred Sanaa Lathan, Craig Brewer’s Black Snake Moan and Hustle and Flow, and John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood. She also produced Reggie Rock Bythewood’s 2003 film, Biker Boyz.
Gina Prince-Bythewood wrote and directed the widely acclaimed feature film Love & Basketball which starred Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps. She won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and a Humanitas Prize for her work on that film. Gina also wrote and directed 2008’s The Secret Life of Bees, which starred Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson.
Mbatha-Raw will next be seen in the Fox Searchlight film Belle, which will make its World Premiere at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival. She was last seen opposite Tom Hanks in the romantic comedy Larry Crowne. Her television credits include working with Kiefer Sutherland in the Fox series Touch and starring with Boris Kodjoe on the J. J. Abrams TV series Undercovers.
Ameen, who recently played Malcolm opposite Kathy Bates on NBC’s Harry’s Law, also appeared in Red Tails, and will play young Cecil Gaines in Lee Daniels’ The Butler. In 2014, he will seen opposite Dylan O’Brien and Jacob Latimore in the sci-fi drama The Maze Runner.
