Daniel Kaluuya and Shaka King made serious noise the last time they worked together, turning “Judas and the Black Messiah” into one of the defining studio dramas of the early 2020s. Now, the pair is getting back in business.
Deadline reports that Kaluuya is reteaming with King for “The Parlay,” a new action-crime feature set up at Amazon MGM Studios and HyperObject Industries. Teyana Taylor, coming off “One Battle After Another” and a major awards-season run, is circling to star.
The project is based on an original spec script by Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie, with Akers, Bronkie, and King currently revising the screenplay. Plot details are being kept under wraps for now.
Kaluuya is reportedly the force bringing King and Taylor together for the film, which makes the project immediately more interesting. “Judas and the Black Messiah” won Kaluuya the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Fred Hampton and earned King Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Original Screenplay, establishing the director as a filmmaker with a sharp political edge and a feel for pressure-cooker ensemble drama.
Since then, King’s next move has been one of the more intriguing open questions in Hollywood. “Judas” was only his second feature after the 2013 indie “Newlyweeds,” and while the film’s acclaim should have opened every door, he has been relatively quiet on the feature front. “The Parlay” gives him a studio-backed crime picture, an original script, and a lead actor who knows exactly how to work inside King’s rhythm.
Kaluuya, meanwhile, has been super selective since “Judas,” with “Nope” and his voice role in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” standing as his most prominent screen work in the years since his Oscar win. He also co-directed the Netflix film “The Kitchen” with Kibwe Tavares, continuing to expand his interests both behind and in front of the camera.
Taylor’s involvement is another strong signal. After years of working across music, choreography, directing, and acting, she broke through dramatically with A.V. Rockwell’s “A Thousand and One,” and Deadline identifies her here as an Oscar-nominated supporting actress for “One Battle After Another.” Pairing her with Kaluuya in a Shaka King crime film is the kind of casting that gives “The Parlay” a charge before anyone knows the plot.
No production start date or release date has been announced yet, but this one is already intriguing. Hopefully, details land soon.
