Filmed stageplay productions have been around longer than Hamilton on Disney+, but it does seem as if they’re having a moment. With Spike Lee and David Byrne’s American Utopia and other productions on the way, breaking the rules of narrative structure by combining movies and theatre is offering viewers a little something new. And that’s what we’re getting in HBO’s adaptation of Between the World and Me, based on the celebrated novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
The newly-released teaser for Between the World and Me combines animation, archival footage, elements from the stage production, and archival documentary footage from the star-studded cast that includes Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Angela Davis, Alicia Garza, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Jharrel Jerome, Mimi Jones, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Ledisi, Janet Mock, Jason Moran, Joe Morton, Wendell Pierce, Phylicia Rashad, Greg Alverez Reid, Mj Rodriguez, Kendrick Sampson, Yara Shahidi, Nate Smith, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Courtney B. Vance, Olivia Washington, Pauletta Washington, Susan Kelechi Watson, Michelle Wilson, and Oprah Winfrey.
The book is written as a letter to Coates’ young son, and centers on the feelings associated with being black in America, and facing the racist violence that has been woven into the fabric of this country.
Coates himself will also appear in the film, which was directed by Kamilah Forbes, who was at the helm of the Apollo stage production. She also serves as exec-producer alongside Coates, Roger Ross Williams, and Susan Kelechi Watson.
Between the World & Me hits HBO on November 21st at 8pm EST.
