*(Via LA Times) – Back in the day — think late ’90s, early 2000s — romantic comedies and dramas with black ensembles were around every release corner: “Love Jones,” “Best Man,” “The Wood,” “Love & Basketball,” “Two Can Play That Game.”
From this collection of films came a generation of Black Hollywood that would go on to become household names in black homes and beyond: Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Morris Chestnut, Vivica A. Fox, Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Gabrielle Union and more.
But as time went on, the genre fell out of favor and Hollywood lost a ripe training ground for up-and-coming talent looking to sharpen their teeth and build personal audiences in front of and behind the camera.
Stella Meghie’s “The Weekend,” premiering Tuesday at the Toronto International Film Festival, revives the tradition.
It just always makes me happy to give someone a role like that so people can see the breadth of what they can do.
Starring “Saturday Night Live” alum Sasheer Zamata, “The Weekend” follows a comedian who takes a weekend trip to her parent’s bed-and-breakfast with her ex (Tone Bell, “Disjointed”) and his new girlfriend (DeWanda Wise, “She’s Gotta Have It”) in tow. While there, she meets a new potential bae in another guest, played by Y’lan Noel (“Insecure,” “The First Purge”).
“The cast is that age group that has been missing of young black actors who are all poppin’ and all really poised for major breakouts,” said Meghie. “That’s what was happening back then and it is happening again now. I’m happy to work alongside them and have our careers build at the same time.”
Meghie, without a doubt, is a writer-director to watch. Following her well-reviewed 2016 indie debut “Jean of the Joneses,” she went on to helm “Everything, Everything” in the studio system, becoming the only black woman to direct a widely released major studio picture in 2017. With her third film, “The Weekend,” she’s back in the indie space where she thrives.
“I missed directing something I had written,” she admits, “but it all came together pretty quickly.”
Get the rest of this Tre’Vell Anderson story at LA Times.
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