Upcoming IR slate

Been meaning to get to this for a couple of weeks. Here's a listing of upcoming projects involving black men being paired with non-black women. I was going to put this in the established movie thread but because there are a handful of show/series I decided to make this new thread. I will first list the title, then the black dude involved and then his onscreen counterpart.

Part One


Pokemon

Justice Smith
Kathryn Newton

Let me get this one out of the way although I’ll admit it may be unwise to do so considering I am not planning on seeing this film and I’m not certain if Smith and Newton’s characters are anything but 100% platonic in it. I am going to take a guess that at least there is some flirting, perhaps there is even a promise of a real relationship down the road. It’s a kiddie film at its core so I wouldn’t expect any kissing even if there is an attraction between them. Regardless it was a step in the right direction when the studios cast Smith and then cast his lady co-star not with a black, Latina or Asian star but a blonde, blue-eyed white girl.




Three Thousands Years of Longing

Idris Elba
Tilda Swinton




Swinton hold zero sex-appeal or romantic-interest appeal to me but she is one of the best actors of her generation and so I take notice when there is an announcement she is to co-star in an apparent epic romance tale alongside Idris Elba. It is rare for black men to be involved in any high concept romantic stories but for this time out having his onscreen pairing be with a white woman? That’s almost nuts. I have high hope for this because


https://deadline.com/2018/10/idris-...s-three-thousand-years-of-longing-1202489499/


Maleficent 2

Chiwetel Ejiofor
Angelina Jolie



Ejiofor apparently was cast as Angelina/Maleficent’s love interest in this sequel of this Disney franchise. That took me by surprise. How many years has it been since the two starred in Salt?


https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a857670/maleficent-2-cast-plot-trailer-movie-release-date-wiki/


Academy Award nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor also joins Maleficent 2 and is rumored to be a potential love interest for Jolie. Given that the first film focused on her character's romantic betrayal, which led her to believe that true love did not exist, it could be a very important role.



The Violent Heart

Jovan Adepo
Grace Van Patten




For so long there was no followup after the initial announcement of this film that I was worried it wasn’t going to happen (film announcements that end up going nowhere is more common than you may realize). But further casting finally came about late last year and the movie is now in post production status. With its story and it being a more independent film put this squarely more in my wheelhouse. Happy to see Adepo continuing to get work.

https://deadline.com/2017/12/grace-...violent-heart-21-laps-kerem-sanga-1202220721/



The Eddy

Andre Holland
Joanna Kulig










This is a TV series but it is a Netflix series directed by one of the most in demand filmmakers at this moment, Damien Chazelle, who will be directing many of the eps too. This is a period piece musical that will take place in Paris. Holland is a jazz pianist from NYC who is the lead of a band. His singer is a woman whom he has an on and off relationship with. Best news of all, the reason why I’m so anticipating this show, is that the singer is played by Joanna Kulig. I don’t expect anyone to know that name; I didn’t know of her either until I saw her in the Oscar nominated “Cold War” back in December. Take a look at her in the link. She’s stunning. She has the looks of the voluptuous blondes in the European films of the 1950s and 1960s.


https://deadline.com/2019/04/joanna...lix-series-the-eddy-andre-holland-1202590992/



Against All Enemies

Anthony Mackie
Kristen Stewart







This movie has been talked about on this board before. It is based on a true story involving actress Jean Seberg’s involvement with the Black Panthers including her brief relationship with Hakim Jamal, a leader of the Panther party. Don’t know how much the movie will spend on this relationship but it looks as if it will be a major part of the story. The film as of now look poised to be released during the awards season.

https://thefilmstage.com/news/kristen-stewart-will-play-jean-seberg-in-against-all-enemies/


Come Away

David Oyelowo
Angelina Jolie




The story of this combines the legend of Peter Pan and Alice of Wonderland and makes them brother and sister. Their parents are played by Jolie and Oyelowo. Okay. Oyelowo recently did an interview in which he touts being proud of this film exploring a mixed couple with biracial kids.


https://deadline.com/2018/05/angeli...vie-brenda-chapman-director-brave-1202386082/

 

Dang Angelina Jolie coming through right now

 

Part Two

Only

Leslie Odom Jr
Frieda Pinto




Odom and Pinto play a married couple in this dystopian future flick in which most women have died off which makes Pinto a target who needs to be on guard.


https://deadline.com/2018/01/freida-pinto-leslie-odom-jr-only-takashi-doscher-1202269161/





Needle in a Timestack

Leslie Odom Jr
Frieda Pinto







No, I didn’t mistake. Odom and Pinto have done another film too. What is it about? Here’s a description from the link below.

Oscar-winning Ridley is directing the pic, which he adapted from a short story by Robert Silverberg. It follows a couple who work to hold their marriage together in a world where time travel is possible, and the past and present are ever fluctuating.

Now, I can’t say for sure if the couple is Odom and Pinto. But since they are typically listed first by the trade mag sites like Deadline, Variety and Hollywood Reporter I am going to assume they are the couple. Sites like that make it a point to list people in order that the studio or producers provide them, and you typically announce/list the leads first. Other sites, for more casual viewers, may list someone like Bloom first because he is the most well known person of the four. But again I can’t confirm who is the couple. John Ridley, the screenwriter and director, is a black man and I see him using Leslie as the male lead. He also worked with Pinto in “Guerrilla” and seemed to have formed a good working relationship with her. Plus she seems to be of the same ethnicity of his wife so it wouldn’t surprise me he would envision Odom and Pinto as an onscreen pair.

https://deadline.com/2018/06/leslie...john-ridley-needle-in-a-timestack-1202403078/




All the Bright Places

Justice Smith
Elle Fanning







Justice Smith again this time with Fanning, maybe the young “It Girl” of the moment. This is an adaptation of a YA romance novel about two broken people. Smith’s character was white in the novel so his casting caused a little commotion. But, hey, if Hollywood is gonna keep racebending to turn white female love interests into onscreen black female love interests, you might as well allow black dudes to benefit from the same thing. This is one of the first times (if not the first) that I’ve seen Hollywood racebend in a way that would make it so a black guy is romantically involved with a white chick. I guess that’s progress.


https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2018...lle-fanning-to-star-in-all-the-bright-places/





Sweetness In the Belly

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
Elle Fanning






Speaking of the Fannings….the adaptation of this novel was announced in 2017 with Saoirse Ronan attached to star. But scheduling conflicts led the filmmakers to move on with Elle Fanning instead. Let’s see if she is up to it considering where the story takes place and the accents that will be required. The story is described as : “a powerful love story that explores an immigrant’s life from a unique perspective.”


https://deadline.com/2018/11/yahya-...senay-berhane-mehari-camilla-gibb-1202494390/



Modern Love

Gary Carr
Anne Hathaway




Another project discussed previously on these forums. This is an Amazon anthology series about couples but info is scarce. Its biggest reveals are arguably all the photos of Hathaway and Carr walking arm-in-arm on set.


https://www.hollywoodpipeline.com/2...ary-carr-film-romantic-scene-for-modern-love/




Mickey and the Bear

Calvin Demba
Camila Morrone









Here’s a quick breakdown of the narrative of this independent movie: Faced with the responsibility to take care of her addict, veteran father, headstrong teen Mickey Peck keeps her household afloat

Morrone plays the title character, Mickey, and Demba, a black Brit, plays her love interest.

Btw go check out the beach pics of Camila Morrone. She is straight fire.




Godfather of Harlem

Kelvin Harrison
Lucy Fry



An upcoming show about gangsters of the 1960s with a killer cast. The two names above play characters who will become romantically involved. This is another project that we have discussed before.

Fry’s Stella, the sheltered 22-year-old daughter of Vincent “Chin” Gigante, is effected by winds of change that foretell a turbulent 1960s. Her love of music takes her from East Harlem into the bohemian world of Greenwich Village and into the arms of African-American musician Teddy Greene. Coming from a family and community where interracial relationships are blasphemy, Stella has the courage to rebel against her father. But as Bumpy Johnson reminds her, Romeo and Juliet is really just two dumb kids who end up dead.


https://deadline.com/2018/09/godfat...epix-drama-series-forest-whitaker-1202471681/

 

Part Three

JT LeRoy

Kelvin Harrison
Kristen Stewart








Harrison once more, this time alongside Stewart. This is based upon a true story and Harrison, in a supporting role, plays a guy who ends up marrying Stewart’s character. I believe both are bi in the film but don’t hold me to that.

Anyway as for the movie….: A young woman named Savannah Knoop spends six years pretending to be the celebrated author JT LeRoy, the made-up literary persona of her sister-in-law.

Here’s the trailer below. Be warned…it looks kinda dull.







Life In a Year

Jaden Smith
Cara Delevingne





Seems like this movie was made an eternity ago. I would almost brush it off but IMDB has it listed for 2019 and it is a film under Will Smith’s production company. So I would bet on it getting some type of release before the year is out.

This is a story of a 17 year old kid trying to give a lifetime of memories to his girlfriend who is sick and has a year to live. Why are all of these YA stories so overly dramatic ?

https://deadline.com/2017/03/jaden-...ear-movie-overbrook-entertainment-1202033321/



The Woman In the Window

Anthony Mackie
Amy Adams




As had been mentioned in these parts months ago, Mackie has the role of the estranged husband of Adams’ character. Don’t know how big a role this will be for him of how much time will be devoted to this relationship, but it’s a nice get nonetheless for Mackie considering Adams is the star of this adaptation of a best selling novel.





Nancy Drew

Tunji Kasim
Kennedy McCann









Yes, CW is bringing back another well known IP property. I’m sure it will be much more “gritty” than the original versions of this franchise.

Kasim, also a Brit (actually Scottish citizenship) plays “Ned “Nick” Nickerson, Nancy’s secret flame. Nick is a former high school athlete with a mysterious past, who should be on full scholarship to a top university. Instead, he’s working as a car mechanic when he winds up a suspect in the murder along with Nancy — leading her to uncover a shocking motive from his past. But whether Nick’s a victim of circumstance or something far more sinister remains to be seen.”


https://deadline.com/2019/02/tunji-...kennedy-mcmann-ned-nick-nickerson-1202562244/





Born to Be Murdered

John David Washington
Alicia Vikander




I was planning on saving this info until I got around to writing this post but someone posted the announcement of this film over a week ago. Anyway there is no doubt about Washington and Vikander playing a couple. The announcement of the film and their casting made it 100% clear.

“Born To Be Murdered is set in Athens and the Epirus region of Greece, where a vacationing couple, played by Washington and Vikander, fall trap to a violent conspiracy with tragic consequences.”

Now that’s what I’m talking about.

I still have doubts about the appeal of Washington but he is having a good year or two. He was also cast as the lead of the next Christopher Nolan film too just before this announcement. In the Nolan film the only woman I’ve seen listed so far is Elizabeth Debicki. If their characters were to have a relationship that would be amusing since she is 6’3 and would tower over him as she would most of the actors in Hollywood. But I’m jumping ahead of myself on that one.

Getting back to “Born to be Murdered” it is impressive that his co-star is Vikander who already has an Oscar nomination and some pretty good films under her belt, my fave being Ex Machina. She is also married to Michael Fassbender for those who care. Anyhow nice to see that Washington isn’t as scared to star alongside a white woman like his daddy.


https://deadline.com/2019/04/john-d...rdered-ferdinando-cito-filomarino-1202601009/





Inheritance

Marque Richardson
Lily Collins







Gratifying to see this dude get some overdue opportunities. The story centers around the death of a powerful patriarch and the repercussions of that death for his wife and daughter. Collins plays the daughter and Richardson plays her husband.


https://deadline.com/2019/04/marque-richardson-simon-peg-lily-collins-inheritance-1202597761/




Eve

Common
Jessica Chastain

What is this film about? Eve (Chastain) is a deadly assassin who works for a black ops organization, traveling the globe specializing in high profile hits. When a job goes dangerously wrong she is forced to fight for her own survival.

Now I’ve read differing reports that has Common playing Chastain’s ex or him playing the ex of her sister’s character. The latter doesn’t seem to make much sense unless if he was having an affair with her while being involved with her sister. Time will tell.

https://deadline.com/2018/10/geena-davis-joan-chen-join-jessica-chastain-in-eve-1202486116/













Windfall

Jessie T Usher
Camilia Mendes







Netflix film starring the gal who plays Veronica on Riverdale.

The description goes : The flick centers on a young couple, Katie and Adam, struggling to make a successful life for themselves. After finally landing in the right place at the right time, the couple find themselves in the middle of a criminal investigation.


http://www.justjaredjr.com/tags/jesse-t-usher/





Naked Singularity

John Boyega
Olivia Cooke







Putting an Asterix by this one. Not certain if the two of them will play a couple but so far they have been the only two cast which may be as good an indication as any.

Plot is :

The story centers on an idealistic young New York City public defender burned out by the system and in the middle of a mental breakdown. Seeing signs of the universe collapsing around him, he gets suspended and decides to rob a $75M drug deal off one of his clients

With that description I could see Cooke playing a girlfriend/wife role. But I will have to wait before I can confirm.

Interesting enough Cooke was one of the major considerations to play the role that ended up being Rose in “The Last Jedi”, but she was taken out of consideration once she got the part in the Spielberg film “Ready Player One.” After that happened Rian Johnson went all-in on his pursuit of making sure “another white woman” wasn’t cast in a SW film. When you consider that Johnson also saw no chemistry between Rey and Finn that would suggest a romantic connection, it can be argued he just wanted to keep Finn away from those white girls.


https://deadline.com/2019/04/olivia-cooke-john-boyega-scott-free-naked-singularity-1202591129/

 

Some more speculation.


Will Smith could possibly have a love interest in Mary Elizabeth Winstead in “Gemini Man”, but, can’t confirm. No indication so far but I hope this isn’t another tepid ‘I, Robot” scenario.

And while there is no indication in the trailer maybe Chadwick Boseman and Sienna Miller could form some type of relationship in “21 Bridges.” A man can hope.

Also based upon admitted only one photo I’ve see of their characters in a car together, perhaps Anna Kendrick and Kingsley Ben-Adir have something going on in “Noelle”; a Christmas story about Santa’s daughter.

Lastly this may be a shot in the dark but I will pay close attention to the upcoming Black Widow film. TPTB (a white woman director) have cast a good-looking black dude, O-T Fagbenle, in what has been described both as the lead male role and the villain part for this Avengers prequel. Could he possibly be someone who became romantically tied to Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha?






https://deadline.com/2019/04/black-widow-marvel-cast-handmaids-tale-actor-o-t-fagbenle-1202593084/



Okay, that’s all I can recall for now. Not as big as the iR opportunities black actresses are getting but nonetheless heading in the right direction for IR material for black men. Did I miss something? Probably so. Which one of these products are you guys interested in the most and why?

 

Thanks for the hard work and intel, @JamalSpunky !

 

Born To be Murdered sounded the most intriguing. When it was posted earlier by someone else the synopsis sounded real good, but the title sounds disturbing.

But I love me some Sci-Fi flicks and shows So Only and Three Thousands Years of Longing are the ones I will be keeping an eye out for the most.

BTW the only one I know of you missing is the Brittany Snow and Sam Richardson flick Bailey and Darla
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9815998/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_3


Darla, a crass female sex addict, and Bailey, a timid testicular cancer patient, engage in a misguided and mutually deceitful form of therapy, one in which they must drive across the country reenacting Darla's myriad trysts from state to state.

 

Damn. Forgot a couple. I had them on my list but just forgot to carry them over.


Waves

Kelvin Harrison
Alexa Demie









Harrison is re-teaming with his "It Comes At Night" writer/director Trey Edward Shults for what has been described as a dramatic musical. There is some early good buzz about it.

Harrison and Demie play one of two couples, the other couple will be the sister of Harrison's character and a boy she is going out with. Sterling K Brown plays their dad.

https://deadline.com/2018/07/kelvin-harrison-jr-waves-a24-director-trey-edward-shults-1202420841/

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/mid-90ss-alexa-demie-a24s-waves-exclusive-1202906214/




Speaking of Sterling K Brown....


The Rhythm Section

Sterling K Brown
Blake Lively






Plot:
A woman seeks revenge against those who orchestrated a plane crash that killed her family.

Lively is getting some good early buzz on this and her studio is now rescheduling the release to be in or close to awards season.

As for Brown all we know now is....

Sterling K. Brown also stars in Rhythm Section as Lively’s love interest and he also has a voice starring role in Frozen 2.

https://deadline.com/2019/01/blake-lively-spy-pic-rhythm-section-to-tune-up-this-fall-1202541814/

 

CBS’ newly picked up drama series:
EVIL


EVIL is a psychological mystery that examines science vs. religion and the origins of evil. The series focuses on a skeptical female forensic psychologist (Katja Herbers),who joins a priest-in-training (Mike Colter) and a carpenter to investigate and assess the Church’s backlog of supposed miracles, demonic possessions and unexplained phenomena.

 

Yep. Missed that one. Good catch.

 

So instead of making him gay, they're making the black guy a priest. Anything to keep him from scoring! LOL j/k

 

Are these two in a relationship or at least participating in some unholy flirting? Because if not then it won't count. I' assuming like with a few of my own selections you aren't sure what the status of the relationship is. That's fine. But his being a priest-in-training doesn't give me much hope.

 

Hey, that's what I'm here for.

 

@JamalSpunky You really came through, man. I appreciate this.

 

Think nothing of it, bro. Go spread the word.

 

That sounds intriguing. Good stories and concepts will be the MAIN thing to help IR BM/WW in film and TV out. If they're making efforts to make it good and attractive to audiences then not only will they continue but it will drown out the hate as it's doing now.

 

Inheritance caught my eye as I've liked Lily Collins since The Blindside

 

Saw the Pokemonetective Pikachu and saw no lovin just a friendship.

 

@JamalSpunky Any new upcoming network shows that are gonna drop a trailer at this week's Network Upfronts?

 

I mentioned this awhile back, but now they're in post-production - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950235/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1

Let It Snow, When a once in a century snowstorm hits a small town on Christmas Eve, several high school seniors discover unexpected opportunities as well as complications that test their friendships, love lives and aspirations for the future.

Starring Kiernan Shipka, Isabela Moner, Shameik Moore...


And Odeya Rush. (Wow, those eyes.)


https://www.thewrap.com/shameik-moore-kiernan-shipka-joan-cusack-cast-of-netflix-film-let-it-snow/

This will be Kiernan Shipka's third Netflix Movie JUST THIS YEAR!... Youngin' becoming Netflix's little darling. lol.

All of the stories have a love story in them if you read the taglines of the book it's based on so there will be definitely IR Romance with Shameik and One Of those lovely young ladies. Reports are saying it's with Kiernan, but we will have to wait this upcoming holiday season to see.