• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Netflix buys Lupita, Rihanna, Issa, and DuVernay Twitter-inspired film.

Netflix where meme dreams come true.
After dramatic negotiation session at the Cannes Film Festival, Netflix has nabbed a film project pairing Grammy winner Rihanna with Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, in a concept that began as a Twitter sensation. Ava DuVernay (Selma) will direct, and Issa Rae (Insecure) is in talks to write the screenplay.

According to sources, Netflix landed the project in a very aggressive bid, beating out multiple other suitors. Netflix had no comment.


The project began as a Twitter meme when the photo above — a shot that was taken in 2014 of the two women in the front row of a Miu Miu fashion show — went viral, prompting calls to turn it into a movie.
Since then, the buzz has only intensified, with some creating concept art of the ”scammer story" they envisioned with Rihanna playing a woman who cons white men, while her brilliant co-conspirator (played by Nyong'o) orchestrates the heists. It's unclear how faithful Rae will remain to the crowd-sourced concept.

Sources say Rae is already working on the script and the studio is eyeing a production start of 2018 after DuVernay completes her current film.

So who's writing the stripper story from a couple months ago? Netflix may be willing to pay top dollar for it.

Here's the original pic, thanks EdibleKnife.
landscape-1492798097-elle-riri-lupita-scams.jpg
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Lupita? Day one. Rihanna? Day one. Ava DuVernay directing and Issa writing? Day Waiting Up Until It Drops At 3am
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Is Zola gonna show up at the end of the movie to recruit them for the Twitter Connected Universe?
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Did the original tweeter get paid for this

I'm skeptical that they did because if I remember correctly it actually started on Tumblr several years ago and then caught on again on Twitter this year. Plus it really wasn't one person like the stripper story, but multiple people adding on elements and ideas.
 
If I came up with this idea, on the one hand I'd be super excited at the fact that my idea was going to become a Hollywood movie. On the other hand, I'd be pissed that I'm definitely not getting paid a cent, and probably not going to get credited at all for it either.
 
If I came up with this idea, on the one hand I'd be super excited at the fact that my idea was going to become a Hollywood movie. On the other hand, I'd be pissed that I'm definitely not getting paid a cent, and probably not going to get credited at all for it either.

lesson learned, don't give away your ideas for free on twitter
 
Maybe I'm totally off base about this, but is the original Twitter storyline of two black women scamming white men a good idea to make into a movie in today's social climate? "Black criminals target white men" sounds like a script Steve Bannon would write. I get that the intent is to be subversive, given that US society until now has featured white men oppressing black women, but it seems like the subversive message won't work if half of the movie-going audience doesn't think that that oppression exists. Inglorious Basterds and its squad of Jewish soldiers kicking Nazi ass worked because everyone (well, almost everyone) agreed that Nazis had committed atrocities against Jews. It would be a very different movie if it released in 1940s Nazi Germany.

Maybe it's still worth making anyways, and the people who get it will enjoy it, and we'll just ignore the all Fox News anchors frothing at the mouth over it. I certainly trust everyone involved to know what they're doing when it comes to these things. Just thinking out loud...
 
Maybe I'm totally off base about this, but is the original Twitter storyline of two black women scamming white men a good idea to make into a movie in today's social climate? "Black criminals target white men" sounds like a script Steve Bannon would write. I get that the intent is to be subversive, given that US society until now has featured white men oppressing black women, but it seems like the subversive message won't work if half of the movie-going audience doesn't think that that oppression exists. Inglorious Basterds and its squad of Jewish soldiers kicking Nazi ass worked because everyone (well, almost everyone) agreed that Nazis had committed atrocities against Jews. It would be a very different movie if it released in 1940's Germany.

Maybe it's still worth making anyways, and the people who get it will enjoy it, and we'll just ignore the all Fox News anchors frothing at the mouth over it. I certainly trust everyone involved to know what they're doing when it comes to these things. Just thinking out loud.

As the article in the OP states, that was stuff that was added on by other users after the initial Tweet blew up. We don't know if Issa Rae and Ava Duvernay are pursuing that storyline yet.
 

Quick

Banned
Day one.

Maybe I'm totally off base about this, but is the original Twitter storyline of two black women scamming white men a good idea to make into a movie in today's social climate? "Black criminals target white men" sounds like a script Steve Bannon would write. I get that the intent is to be subversive, given that US society until now has featured white men oppressing black women, but it seems like the subversive message won't work if half of the movie-going audience doesn't think that that oppression exists. Inglorious Basterds and its squad of Jewish soldiers kicking Nazi ass worked because everyone (well, almost everyone) agreed that Nazis had committed atrocities against Jews. It would be a very different movie if it released in 1940s Nazi Germany.

Maybe it's still worth making anyways, and the people who get it will enjoy it, and we'll just ignore the all Fox News anchors frothing at the mouth over it. I certainly trust everyone involved to know what they're doing when it comes to these things. Just thinking out loud...

Have you seen Get Out?
 

mr2xxx

Banned
Maybe I'm totally off base about this, but is the original Twitter storyline of two black women scamming white men a good idea to make into a movie in today's social climate? "Black criminals target white men" sounds like a script Steve Bannon would write. I get that the intent is to be subversive, given that US society until now has featured white men oppressing black women, but it seems like the subversive message won't work if half of the movie-going audience doesn't think that that oppression exists. Inglorious Basterds and its squad of Jewish soldiers kicking Nazi ass worked because everyone (well, almost everyone) agreed that Nazis had committed atrocities against Jews. It would be a very different movie if it released in 1940s Nazi Germany.

Maybe it's still worth making anyways, and the people who get it will enjoy it, and we'll just ignore the all Fox News anchors frothing at the mouth over it. I certainly trust everyone involved to know what they're doing when it comes to these things. Just thinking out loud...

Those people would never see it and they would complain no matter what, justified or not. Better to ignore them than put up with their mental gymnastics when it comes to their views.
 
I guess it could be a fun genre flick, but this sounds not unlike Kevin Smith's "Tusk" in terms of being a half-baked idea getting made because it was kinda funny and got some social media engagement.
 
So excited for this. Some really great talent already attached.
It's really fun that this all started as a Twitter meme. I even saw fanart of it!
 
Top Bottom