During an exclusive interview with variety, it was announced that Lena Waithe is officially producing Radha Blank’s comedy “The 40-Year-Old Version,” in New York City. “Radha Blank is a rare talent,” Waithe said. “She’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met — and I wanted to do everything in my power to help get this movie made.”
“The 40-Year-Old Version” is Blank’s very own script about a down-on-her-luck New York playwright who decides to reinvent herself and salvage her artistic voice the only way she knows how — by becoming a rapper at age 40. The film will follow its protagonist as she vacillates between the worlds of New York’s theater and hip hop scenes, places where a black woman’s voice is still often marginalized.
Waithe, is known for her Emmy Award winning work on “Master of None,” Showtime’s “The Chi,” and Universal’s upcoming drama “Queen & Slim.” The film will also be produced by Jordan Fudge, Inuka Bacote, and Jennifer Semler, star Peter Kim and hip hop performer Oswin Benjamin, and is said to be shot almost entirely on black and white film by cinematographer Eric Branco.
“As a native New Yorker raised on cinema, I’ve been waiting my entire life to see someone who looks like me in the center of a classic New York film, and now thanks to the amazing support of Jordan, Lena and the rest of the talented team of producers, I get to make my dream come true, adding ‘The 40-Year-Old Version,’ a love letter to my great hometown, to the canon of New York films.”
