Brian Tyree Henry — an Oscar, Tony and Emmy nominee — is joining Universal Pictures’ upcoming Pharrell Williams/Michel Gondry film. Kelvin Harrison Jr., Halle Bailey and recent Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph are already attached to the project, a coming-of-age musical set “in the summer of 1977 Virginia Beach inspired by Atlantis Apartments, Williams’ childhood neighborhood,” according to the official synopsis.
Gondry is attached to direct from a script by Martin Hynes and Steven Levenson. Williams and Mimi Valdés will produce through i am OTHER and Gil Netter will produce through Gil Netter Productions. Universal’s Senior Vice President of Production Development Ryan Jones and Director of Production Development Christine Sun will oversee the project for the studio.
Henry can currently be seen in “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” reprising his role as a conspiracy theorist who joins a secret mission to Hollow Earth. He was also heard last year in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” as Miles Morales’ dad, before that being nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 2022’s “Causeway.” That same year he also costarred in David Leitch’s “Bullet Train” alongside Brad Pitt.
Henry’s next project is “Transformers One,” an animated “Transformers” adventure where Henry will play a young Megatron — the most feared villain in all of “Transformers” lore, the traditional leader of the Decepticons.
Williams, for his part, has another autobiographical film telling his story opening later this year called “Piece by Piece.” It was directed by Academy Award winner Morgan Neville and is told through LEGO bricks. That film opens on Oct. 11 from Focus Features.
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