Image Text:

STAR POWER: Daniel Kaluuya will play a title role in the film due to start production later this year

DANIEL KALUUYA is to star in romantic drama Queen & Slim by Master of None co-writer and actor Lena Waithe.

The film, which is yet to start production, will be directed by Melina Matsoukas.

Kaluuya is set to take the lead role, Slim. Waithe, Matsoukas and the film’s casting director, Carmen Cuba, are still on the lookout for an actress to fill the part of Queen, The Hollywood Reporter disclosed.

Announcing the news on social media, Waithe wrote: “Me, my sis @melinamatsoukas, and my brother Daniel Kaluuya are so excited to bring this movie to the big screen. It’s the blackest thing I’ve ever written. I hope y’all love it. #QueenAndSlim.”

The film is described as having a “Bonnie and Clyde” style plot that centres on a black couple go on the run after they kill a police officer in self defence, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Waithe told The Hollywood Reporter: “To me, this is protest art.

“It’s about being black and trying to fall in love in a world that’s burning down around you.”

Matsoukas mainstream notoriety rocketed following her direction of Beyonce’s Formation music video. She also directed the music video for Rihanna’s We Found Love. The 37-year-old also directs Issa Rae’s HBO series, Insecure.

Last year Waithe became the first black woman to win an Emmy award for comedy writing.

Waithe was recognised for her work on Master of None in which she drew on her own experience of coming out.

Read every story in our hardcopy newspaper for free by downloading the app.