Oscar winning actor Daniel Kaluuya has co-written a futuristic dystopian drama for Netflix.
The Kitchen, which will star Top Boy’s Kane Robinson, also known as Kano, will be produced by Kaluuya’s own company 59% Productions and DMC Film.
According to Netflix, the film will be set in London in 2044, “where the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and London’s working classes have been forced to live in temporary accommodation on the outskirts of the city, The Kitchen is the first and the largest of its kind, it’s London’s last village harbouring residents that refuse to move on and move out of the place they call home.
“It’s here we meet Izi, a resident of the kitchen who is desperately trying to find a way out and 12-year-old, Benji, who has lost his mother and is searching for a family. We follow our unlikely pair as they battle to survive in a system that is stacked against them.”
Kano will be starring as Izi, following his turn as Sully in the Top Boy series, accompanied by newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman, who will be playing Benji.
The film will also be led by first-time feature director Kibwe Tavares.
Announcing the film, Kaluuya explained that the inspiration came from his own life.
“In 2011, I was in my barbershop and there was a guy boasting about smash and grabs - kids doing million-pound heists in a minute, getting paid £200 to do it. I saw the potential to unlock a unique story door to the inequality, fatherhood, class, joy, resilience, courage, defiance and care of London," he said.
"Now, nearly a decade later, Kibwe Tavares, Daniel Emmerson and I are about to start production, immersing ourselves in a dystopian London that interrogates what ‘care’ means, at home and as a society and the dangers in our future if we stay indifferent to everything around us. I feel blessed and honoured that my first co-writing film credit is with this inspiring group of creatives, and with the support of Film 4 and Netflix. All of us are excited to watch Kibwe’s incredible, cinematic, electric vision come to life, and to create a moment that audiences want to take with them.”
Tavares added that the film “is very much a love letter to London, the city that has defined my childhood and ultimately my identity.”
Kaluuya began his career in the writers room of the first two seasons of much-loved teen drama Skins (he also starred in the show as Posh Kenneth) and has previously written short films.
