Three years on from The Man With The Iron Fists, RZA is set to make his second film as director. He'll man the cameras for Azealia Banks' acting debut in the drama Coco. Common, Jill Scott, Lucien Laviscount, Lorraine Toussaint and Hana Mae Lee will support her in the cast.
Banks broke through on the hip-hop scene last year with her album Broke With Expensive Taste. Three years in the making, it followed a mixtape and a single that she unveiled at Glastonbury in 2013. She recently announced her second and third albums for release this year and next, but is perhaps most famous at the moment for a series of beefs with rival musicians on social media. She has an acting background inasmuch as she studied for a while at the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, although she dropped out to focus on her music.
In Coco she'll play "an aspiring twenty-something rapper" who reluctantly puts off her hip-hop career in order to finish college to placate her parents. It turns out to be a good move, however, since she "experiences the true power of the spoken word" in class, which in turn helps her own writing and career. Education's important, kids.
As a director, RZA's ambitious Iron Fist plans didn't quite take off in the way that he'd hoped - although there's at least been a straight-to-DVD sequel this year (helmed by Death Race 2 and 3's Roel Reiné). Coco seems comfortably within his Wu-Tang wheelhouse though, and he clearly still has the confidence of Iron Fist studio Lionsgate, who are also behind this.
Nicole Jefferson Asher wrote the screenplay, and shooting will be underway sharpish, before Banks disappears for a tour next month.
from Empire News
No comments:
Post a Comment