2014 turned out to be a banner year for Gugu Mbatha-Raw. She earned rave reviews for two impressive performances, the first in the period drama, Belle, and the second for playing a troubled pop starlet in Gina Prince-Bythewood's steamy Beyond the Lights. That latter collaboration worked out so well that the two ladies are reuniting on another project, an adaptation of Roxane Gay's novel, An Untamed State.
Cultural critic Roxane Gay's book tells the powerful story of a Haitian-American woman kidnapped for random right in front of her husband and child. The privilege that made her a target and the strength she must draw upon to survive are what the film will delve into.
Prince-Bythewood co-wrote the script with Gay, making this the rare case of a film almost entirely comprised of African-American women creatively. Gay realized how special this project was, tweeting "To be able to tell a black woman’s story and have it directed by a black woman is a dream come true."
Mbatha-Raw was last seen with Will Smith in Conscussion. [Deadline]
