Gabourey Sidibe, best known for her Academy Award-nominated performance in 2009’s Precious, is set to make her feature directorial debut with a thriller titled Pale Horse.
The film revolves around reclusive African-American author Naia who is living with Multiple sclerosis (MS). Her solitary and quiet life disintegrates when she agrees to shelter a stranger who has escaped captivity with her long-lost brother.
Effie T. Brown and Wellington Love, who previously produced Dear White People and Rocket Science, will produce for Gamechanger Films.
Sidibe said in a statement: “I’m super excited to work with Gamechanger on my first feature! This project is a true stand-out and the character of Naia is a Bad Ass! Effie and Wellington are powerhouse visionaries and I’m so excited to be able to work with them to create this gripping thriller with complex characters”.
While Sidibe is best known for Precious, she’s also starred in almost 100 episodes of musical drama Empire, 30 episodes of The Big C, and multiple seasons of Ryan Murphy‘s American Horror Story, and wrote the book This Is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare.
Gamechanger Films is both a production company and development fund dedicated to backing stories that are by and about women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities. The company has produced movies such as The Invitation, Addicted To Fresno, and The Strange Ones. Producer Brown said of this project:
“Stories like Pale Horse are long overdue in the entertainment industry and Gamechanger is dedicated to financing and producing them: entertaining films that offer diversity in story-telling, characters, and filmmakers […] We want people of all communities to feel included in and empowered by this process.
I have known Gabourey for some time and am always impressed with her skills as a storyteller, both as an actor or author. She will be an incredible force behind Pale Horse.”
It will be interesting to see what Sidibe can do behind the camera after over a decade of experience in front of it. We’ll wait for more information regarding release date and who’s on board to star.
#Peace.Love.PaleHorse
