Y'know, we don't know everything around here.
It's true that the BMD staff is limited, much smaller in scale than the average movie blog's, and there are times where certain movies or TV shows will escape our attention. It happens. But for the most part, we're pretty keyed-in to what's going on in Hollywood. Read the trades every day! Exchange industry gossip with our movie blog colleagues! The occasions where a film gets announced, produced, and dated without landing on our radar are few and far between, but it does happen.
Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz's Antebellum is one of those movies.
So, this looks pretty incredible!
Once we saw this, we went digging to see when this project was announced, only to come across a post over on Deadline, from March. That report doesn't offer up a title or a logline for the film itself, but does announce the ridiculously talented Janelle Monáe as the lead, and offers a bit of background on the filmmakers, such as:
"Bush + Renz are known for their deep creative layers, highlighting social issues as a hallmark of their innovative, edgy approach. They have worked on campaigns partnering with the MLK Memorial Foundation and Amnesty International, as well as directing Jay-Z’s politically charged music visual “Kill Jay-Z,” garnering them significant praise. Their viral police brutality PSA produced by activist icon Harry Belafonte titled “Against the Wall” starring Michael B. Jordan, Danny Glover and Michael K. Williams solidified their voices, not only as important American artists but also celebrated visual activists in their field."
Combine that info with the trailer above and holy shit are we curious about this one. This is, to say the least, touchy subject matter these folks are working with, but with this creative team (which includes several producers who also worked on Jordan Peele's Get Out and Spike Lee's BlackKklansman) in place, there's reason to believe it'll all be handled thoughtfully.
In addition to this unexpected trailer, we've also got three new posters:
We're very excited about Antebellum, curious to learn more, and will absolutely be keeping our ear to the ground for further updates between now and the film's April 24th, 2020 arrival in theaters. Stay tuned.