
BLACK PANTHER Star Lands Role With John Cena in MATCHBOX
By Movieguide® Contributor
BLACK PANTHER star Danai Gurira just landed a role in John Cena in MATCHBOX, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“MATCHBOX will be inspired by Mattel’s iconic real-world die-cast toy vehicle line of the same name,” Mattel, creator of Matchbox toys, wrote in a press release for the movie.
Gurira joins a star-studded cast that includes Cena, Sam Richardson, Teyonah Parris and Arturo Castro. Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger and Mattell Films’ Robbie Brenner will produce.
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Recently, Gurira, who played Okoye in the MCU, has focused her skills on Almasi Arts, a “Zimbabwean American Dramatic Arts Collaborative” with a vision “to contribute to professionalizing the Dramatic Arts Industry in Zimbabwe.”
“We here at Almasi seek to allow African artists a platform to reach their fullest potential through education, access, and opportunity,” Gurira wrote on Instagram.
She hopes to inspire other actors with the help of Oskar Eustis, the head of the Public Theater, who visited Zimbabwe last year. He said:
The thing about the golden ages of theater is, that they never last and we never know when we’re in one. You’re in one and you’re in one at the start. Take advantage of it and lean into it. It’s by talking to each other in that honest, real voice that you start to hold up a mirror to your own culture and country; that’s what makes it translate to the rest of the world and that’s what makes the rest of the world sit up and take notice.
“Our collaboration with American artists and artistic institutions was deeply realized this year,” Gurira continued. “With three incredible American artists visiting Zimbabwe, including Oskar Eustis, the head of the renowned Public Theater, we were able to bring invaluable training and opportunity while nurturing the talent of the next great global storytellers. While also building new audiences and local support for the arts.”
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