“As long as my lady remembers me fondly, that’s all I need.”
Some are calling it the black version of Bonnie and Clyde, I’m calling it “Ambitionz az Ridah” Tupac style!
What happens when a first date changes the trajectory of your life? The story of ‘Queen & Slim’ unfolds as a black man (Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya) and a black woman (Jodie Turner-Smith, in her first starring feature-film role), are pulled over for a minor traffic infraction, in Ohio. The situation escalates, with sudden and tragic results, when the man kills the police officer in self-defense. Terrified and in fear for their lives they are forced to go on the run. However, there is a video which has now gone viral. The couple has now become a symbol of trauma, terror, the staggering human toll of racism and the life-shattering price of violence for people across the country.
From two-time Grammy award winning director Melina Matsoukas, the visionary filmmaker behind this generation’s most powerful pop-culture experiences, including HBO’s Insecure, the Emmy award-winning “Thanksgiving” episode of Netflix’s Master of None, and Beyonce’s “Formation,” and from trailblazing, Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe (Netflix’s Master of None), comes the unflinching new drama, Queen & Slim.
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.
The feature-film directorial debut from Melina Matsoukas (executive producer/director of HBO’s Insecure) stars Academy Award® nominee Daniel Kaluuya as “Slim” and rising star Jodie Turner-Smith (Syfy’s Nightflyers), as “Queen.” Waithe wrote the screenplay from a story by herself and bestselling author James Frey (A Million Little Pieces, Katerina).
The film is produced by Frey, Waithe, Matsoukas, Michelle Knudsen, Andrew Coles, Brad Weston and Pamela Abdy. The executive producers are Pamela Hirsch, Kaluuya, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth, Reginald Cash, Angelo Pullen, David Krintzman and Guymon Casady.
Universal Pictures and Makeready present Queen & Slim in association with 3BlackDot and Bron Creative, a Makeready/De La Revolución Films/Hillman Grad/3BlackDot production. Universal Pictures will distribute the film worldwide, with eOne handling distribution in select territories including the U.K. and Canada.
Genre: Drama
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bokeem Woodbine, Chloë Sevigny, Flea, John Sturgill Simpson, Indya Moore
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Screenplay by: Lena Waithe
Story by: James Frey, Lena Waithe
Producers: James Frey, Lena Waithe, Melina Matsoukas, Michelle Knudsen, Andrew Coles, Brad Weston, Pamela Abdy
Executive Producers: Pamela Hirsch, Daniel Kaluuya, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth, Reginald Cash, Angelo Pullen, David Krintzman, Guymon Casady