Sanaa Lathan’s directorial feature debut On the Come Up is set to receive a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September.
The Paramount Players adaptation of Angie Thomas’ novel On the Come Up, about an ambitious 16-year-old rapper, stars Jamila C. Gray, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Lil Yachty and Mike Epps. The ensemble cast includes Lathan and Method Man, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Justin Martin, Titus Makin, Michael Cooper Jr. and GaTa.
On the Come Up, adapted by screenwriter Kay Oyegun, follows Bri, a gifted rapper attempting to take the battle rap scene by storm in order to lift up her family and do right by the legacy of her father, a local hip hop legend whose career was cut short by gang violence.
But when her first hit song goes viral for all the wrong reasons, she finds herself torn between the authenticity that got her this far and the false gangsta persona that the industry wants to impose upon her.
Temple Hill, State Street and Thomas are producing On The Come Up. The movie is based on Angie Thomas’ follow-up novel to The Hate U Give, which 20th Century Fox turned into a movie.
Lathan, also known for roles in Blade, The Wood, The Best Man, The Affair and Contagion, has directing in her family as her father is Stan Lathan, the prolific TV helmer.
Toronto returns in September for a 47th edition that will be in-person, with Hollywood stars on red carpets and in theaters after two years of disruption from the pandemic. TIFF earlier announced that Netflix’s follow-up to Rian Johnson’s 2019 movie Knives Out, which stars Daniel Craig, and Clement Virgo’s Brother will have world premieres at the festival in September.