{"id":139882,"date":"2019-11-26T11:51:24","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T16:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/?p=139882"},"modified":"2019-11-26T11:51:24","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T16:51:24","slug":"screenwriter-lena-waithe-on-bringing-queen-slim-to-the-big-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/screenwriter-lena-waithe-on-bringing-queen-slim-to-the-big-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"Screenwriter Lena Waithe On Bringing Queen & Slim To The Big Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Coming out this week from\u00a0 Universal Pictures is the independent romance drama \u201cQueen & Slim,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0written by Emmy Award winner\u00a0Lena Waithe <\/strong>and starring Academy Award nominee Daniel Kaluuya<\/strong> (Get Out) and introducing\u00a0Jodie Turner-Smith.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

From Melina Matsoukas<\/strong>, the visionary director of some of this generation\u2019s most powerful pop-culture experiences, including Beyonce\u2019s \u201cFormation\u201d and the Nike \u201cEquality\u201d campaign, comes Makeready\u2019s unflinching new drama, Queen & Slim<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Queen and Slim – Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith Photo by Andre D. Wagner\/Universal Pictures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While on a forgettable first date together in Ohio, a black man (Get Out\u2019s Daniel Kaluuya) and a black woman (Jodie Turner-Smith, in her first starring feature-film role), are pulled over for a minor traffic infraction. The situation escalates, with sudden and\u00a0 tragic results, when the man kills the police officer in self-defense. Terrified and in fear for their lives, the man, a retail employee, and the woman, a criminal defense lawyer, are forced to go on the run. But the incident is captured on video and goes viral, and the couple unwittingly become a symbol of trauma, terror, grief and pain for people across the country.<\/p>\n

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As they drive, these two unlikely fugitives will discover themselves and each other in the most dire and desperate of circumstances, and will forge a deep and powerful love that will reveal their shared humanity and shape the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

Best known for starring in the Netflix comedy-drama series Master of None<\/strong>, which her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 2017 for writing the show’s “Thanksgiving” episode, Waithe is also the creator of the 2018 Showtime drama series The Chi.<\/p>\n

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For Queen & Slim, Waithe wrote the script based on an original idea by bestselling author James Frey (A Million Little Pieces, Katerina).<\/p>\n

Blackfilm.com recently sat down with Waithe as she talked about the film came about bringing on Melina Matsoukas to direct and Daniel Kaluuya to star in it.<\/p>\n