Stud icon Lena Waithe is the writer and co-producer, along with Michael Ellenberg and Rishi Rajani, behind Beauty: a sapphic drama movie coming to Netflix. Netflix has–after a long silence–finally given us a date for when Beauty will be available for stream: June 29, 2022.
An official trailer hasn’t been released yet.
The movie’s synopsis on Netflix’s official site doesn’t give away much either: “A young singer on the brink of a promising career finds herself torn between a domineering family, industry pressures and her love for her girlfriend.”
Netflix Life’s description of Beauty is a bit more detailed: “[Beauty] follows a young black woman on the brink of a promising singing career, living with her family in 1980s New Jersey, who finds herself torn between a domineering family, industry pressures, and her love for her girlfriend.”
Writer and co-producer Lena Waithe told Essence that Queen & Slim, a film that Waithe teamed up with Melina Matsoukas to create, did not involve “one single note by a White person,” and Beauty’s cast is also mostly people of color.
“Gracie Marie Bradley has been cast as the lead character Beauty in the upcoming movie. Other actors to join the cast include Aleyse Shannon as Jasmine, Kyle Bary as Abel, Micheal Ward as Cain, and Andre Ozima s Young Pastor Colman. American rapper Joey Bada$$ is also set to appear in the movie.”
Other cast members include Niecy Nash, Giancarlo Esposito, Sharon Stone, Sarah Stavrou, James Urbaniak, Carla Carvalho, Latoya Edwards, Cory Stonebrook, Aaron Morton, Jim Loftus, David Blake and Alan R. Walker.
“It really can’t be the job of the artist to change the world,” Waithe said to USA Today. “It’s the job of the artist to reflect the world back to itself.”
“What I want to do is just support the black LGBTQIA community however I can and maybe support causes in those communities that mean something to me,” she said. “I want to be able to help them build a space where they can continue to tell stories, which I think is as much a part of revolution as walking down the streets and protesting. Unity may be a long way off, but supporting each other is easy. That we can do today.”
The R-rated movie has already won the ReFrame award for Narrative & Animated Feature, so we can expect a quality film. Come on June 29!
