The big guns have been brought out for Queen & Slim, a new film that looks to set a trailblazing path for the depiction of race and police violence on the big screen. Not only does it teamup groundbreaking writer Lena Waith (Emmy winner for Master of None) and director Melina Matsoukas, the Grammy winner behind Beyoncé’s “Formation“. That would be enough, but the crime drama also stars Get Out‘s Daniel Kaluuya and a promising newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith.
Following in the vein of Bonnie & Clyde and Thelma & Louise, the film centers on a black couple’s first date that goes awry when an unexpected traffic stop spins violently out of control.
SYNOPSIS: While on a forgettable first date together in Ohio, 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. 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, 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.
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 film co-stars Bokeem Woodbine and Chloe Sevigny, and is based on an original idea by James Frey (A Million Little Pieces) It marks Waithe’s feature debut as a writer, as well as Matsoukas’ feature directorial debut.
Queen & Slim opens November 27th.
