Daniel Kaluuya Directs A Netflix Sci-Fi Thriller In The Kitchen Trailer
Sooner or later, if you're a big-name actor with dreams of even bigger ambitions, it's likely that you'll eventually try your hand at stepping behind the other side of the camera for a change. In what feels like no time at all, Daniel Kaluuya has built up a strong and wide-ranging body of work under his belt, breaking out with 2017's "Get Out" (although real ones know him from the British dramedy TV series "Skins") and following that up with a trip to blockbuster land in "Black Panther," reuniting with director Jordan Peele in last year's "Nope," and most recently voicing fan-favorite superhero Hobie Brown (aka Spider-Punk) in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse." But it seems that Peele's specific career arc has rubbed off on Kaluuya a bit, since he's now become the latest performer-turned-director with the impending release of his directorial debut.
Today, Netflix released a new trailer for "The Kitchen," a futuristic but grounded dystopian story set in London. Kaluuya co-directed the feature alongside Kibwe Tavares, another talent who's experienced an unconventional path to Hollywood. (Tavares originally studied to become an architect before his first short "Robots of Brixton" landed him the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award in 2012 and set him on his directing path.) Together, they'll tell the story of a father figure and young tween trying to survive in the hellish community known as the Kitchen. Check out the thrilling footage above!
The Kitchen debuts on Netflix January 2024
If you ever caught yourself bemoaning the fact that Daniel Kaluuya's brilliant performance went largely overlooked and underseen in Steve McQueen's masterful "Widows" in 2018, well, you're not alone. The actor/director seems to have taken note of that grave injustice as well, channeling much of the same energy of the crime drama for his co-directing debut in "The Kitchen." Much like "Widows," the upcoming Netflix film seems to emphasize the struggle of making a living in an economic system that might as well be set up for most to fail. Instead of being driven to pull off the tensest heist you'll ever see, our main characters are simply fighting to survive in a world without social housing. The official synopsis for the movie goes like this:
In a dystopian London, the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and only The Kitchen remains. A community that refuses to move out of the place they call home. This is where we meet a solitary Izi, living here by necessity and desperately trying to find a way out, and a 12-year-old Benji, who has lost his mother and is searching for a family. We follow our unlikely pair as they struggle to forge a relationship in a system that is stacked against them.
"The Kitchen" stars Kane Robinson as Izi and Jedaiah Bannerman making his acting debut as Benji, alongside a cast made up of Hope Ikpoku Jr, Ian Wright, BackRoad Gee, Cristale, Teija Kabs, and Demmy Ladipo. Netflix subscribers can look forward to the movie's streaming premiere on January 19, 2024.