Don’t f-ck this up Hollywood. That’s all I ask. Actual real-life goddesses Lupita Nyong'o and Rihanna may star in a movie Black Twitter made up. Certified genius and habitual creator of dope sh-t Ava Duvernay may direct it. My imaginary best friend Issa Rae may write it. This is not a drill. All of these people are on board. Hollywood has one job: do not f-ck this up.

Let’s start at the beginning. Twitter can be a wasteland of racist trolls, bad memes and politicians tweeting stupidity but the black writers, artists and comedians on Twitter consistently come up with hilarious hashtags and important movements. Black Twitter gave us #OscarsSoWhite. It gave us #BlackLivesMatter. It gave us #BlackPantherSoLit. Now, it probably have given us the movie of our dreams. It started with a photo of Rihanna and Lupita sitting front row at Paris Fashion Week in 2014.


Then, Twitter user @1800SADGAL pitched a film idea that is better than every premise of a Jason Statham movie.


From there, the brilliance kept coming. Lupita gave the potential project her blessing and everyone else followed suit.

 


(Low key dying at RiRi’s nickname for Lupita.)

 


Then, Code Black Films, a division of Lionsgate, literally has no chill and offered to sign a deal this week.


So, the seeds are planted. How likely is it that this movie actually gets made? Ava Duvernay talked about the movie at an event last night with Questlove, according to Essence.

"I was texting with these sisters today, and there were some interesting conversations. So we'll see what comes… I think the main thing is the idea that the people want a certain kind of film. People want Black women in centered, powerful images that are complex and layered. And that have nuance beyond what we're relegated to. And they want it from other Black women. They chose Black writers, with Issa. Issa text me like, 'Yooo!'”

This is why I opened with begging Hollywood not to f-ck this up. The reason this idea has gone viral is because we don’t get to see people who look like Lupita and Rihanna star in fun, heist flicks as the central characters. To reiterate Ava’s point, this specific film would be powerful. We are craving a film like this. A few Twitter users suggested that Lupita Nyong’o should just join in on the next Oceans movie. Nope. I want to see this film, created by black women – helmed and written by them. I don’t want a studio to take this over and put it in the hands of white studio execs.

I am now obsessed with Cashing In or Bitch, Better Have My Money (the Internet’s two working titles for the film) and need it in my life ASAP. It’s not like we are talking about women with a lot of free time. All of these women hustle hard and are always working. BUT I did a deep dive into each of their schedules and the stars could actually align for this, but not for a while. Lupita and Rihanna both look like they are relatively free following their upcoming projects – Black Panther and Ocean’s 8, respectively— but Lupita has the adaptation of Americanah in the works and Star Wars press coming up. After A Wrinkle in Time, Ava will probably start work on Battle of Versailles. Issa Rae is knee-deep in Insecure season 2 but filming should wrap soon so she could write this in between seasons. No pressure. Black Twitter is already helping with script details.


In statement to Vanity Fair, Issa Rae doubled down on her commitment to writing the movie. 

“Oh I’m definitely going to shoot my shot. This is an amazing opportunity and all credit to Black Twitter.”

Hollywood, DO NOT THROW AWAY ISSA’S SHOT. Am I being too optimistic to hope for a 2019 release? Sure, that’s far away but if they do this right, it’ll be worth the wait. Now my hopes are up. Dear Blue Ivy and the Holy Twins, I NEED this movie to happen.  Please let this happen.

Also attached- Rihanna arriving at LAX last night.