Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya is developing a futuristic dystopian drama titled The Kitchen for Netflix with Michael Fassbender executive producing.
Kaluuya wrote the script with Joe Murtagh (Gangs of London), from an idea that he hatched with Kibwe Tavares (Noughts + Crosses) and Daniel Emmerson (Calm with Horses). The project was actually selected for the Sundance Screenwriting and Directing Lab back in 2016.
Travers will direct the film. He previously helmed the animated short Robots of Brixton, which was awarded the Sundance Special Jury Award for his animated short. He also helmed the live-action short Jonah, which was nominated for the Sundance Short Film Grand Jury Prize.
The Kitchen is set in London, 2044, “a future where the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and London’s working classes have been forced to live in temporary accommodation on the outskirts of the city, The Kitchen is the first and the largest of its kind, it’s London’s last village harbouring residents that refuse to move on and move out of the place they call home. It’s here we meet Izi, a resident of the kitchen who is desperately trying to find a way out and 12-year-old, Benji, who has lost his mother and is searching for a family. We follow our unlikely pair as they battle to survive in a system that is stacked against them.”
Kane Robinson (Top Boy) will play Izi while newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman is set to play co-lead Benji.
Kaluuya said in a statement: “In 2011, I was in my barbershop and there was a guy boasting about smash and grabs — kids doing million-pound heists in a minute, getting paid £200 [$260] to do it. I saw the potential to unlock a unique story door to the inequality, fatherhood, class, joy, resilience, courage, defiance and care of London.”
He went on to say: “Now, nearly a decade later, Kibwe Tavares, Daniel Emmerson and I are about to start production, immersing ourselves in a dystopian London that interrogates what ‘care’ means, at home and as a society, and the dangers in our future if we stay indifferent to everything around us. I feel blessed and honoured that my first co-writing film credit is with this inspiring group of creatives, and with the support of Film 4 and Netflix. All of us are excited to watch Kibwe’s incredible, cinematic, electric vision come to life, and to create a moment that audiences want to take with them.”
Tavares said: “’The Kitchen’ is very much a love letter to London, the city that has defined my childhood and ultimately my identity. It’s set in an extreme version of our current world; our characters have little choice but to let the city take over them. Through Benji, a 12 year old in need of care, we explore what we as society lose in the ever changing and shifting patterns of life, of our cities. This is a film for all the communities out there that are trying to take care of each other.”
Fiona Lamptey, director of U.K. features at Netflix, added: “I’ve had the pleasure of producing for Kibwe over the years and couldn’t be happier to now be supporting Kibwe’s debut feature as part of the Netflix U.K. film slate. ‘The Kitchen’ is ambitious, timely and will showcase the great vision he has as a filmmaker, bringing the exciting world-building and textured nuances from Daniel Kaluuya’s debut feature script to our screens.”
The movie will shoot on location in London and Paris and is set to be released globally on Netflix in 2023.
Source: Variety