Janelle Monae has joined the cast of Universal’s untitled coming-of-age musical produced by Pharrell Williams and directed by Michel Gondry, the studio announced Thursday.
The star of “Glass Onion” and “Hidden Figures” has joined a cast led by Kelvin Harrison Jr. and also starring Halle Bailey, Brian Tyree Henry, Missy Elliott, and “The Holdovers” Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
Written by Martin Hynes and Steven Levenson, the musical will be set in 1977 in Virginia Beach, Williams hometown, and will be inspired by his childhood neighborhood, Atlantis Apartments. Williams and Mimi Valdés will produce through i am OTHER and Gil Netter will produce through Gil Netter Productions. Universal’s SVP of Production Development Ryan Jones and Director of Production Development Christine Sun will oversee the project for the Studio.
Monae, a ten-time Grammy nominated recording artist, received a Screen Actors Guild award in 2017 as part of the cast of “Hidden Figures,” in which she played Mary Jackson, NASA’s first black space engineer. She is repped by WME, ID PR, Mikael Moore and Kelli Andrews at Wondaland Management, Ben Rubinfeld at Ziffren Brittenham, and Matthew Johnson at Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
