Photo by The Heart Truth, cropped (public domain)
The Lowdown
Nearly 30 years after Love Jones, Nia Long and Larenz Tate are a screen couple again. Netflix revealed on Nov. 3 that the two star in Don’t Ever Wonder, a romance inspired by Maxwell’s 1996 debut album, Urban Hang Suite (Netflix Tudum).
Key Takeaways
- Long and Tate lead the cast and are also executive producers, along with Maxwell (Netflix Tudum).
- Eugene Ashe directs and co-wrote the script with Kay Oyegun (Netflix Tudum).
- The cast includes Blair Underwood, Laz Alonso, Susan Kelechi Watson, Dennis Haysbert, Chanté Adams and Algee Smith (Netflix Tudum).
- MACRO Film Studios produces; the movie was shot in New Jersey and New York (Netflix Tudum).
- Netflix hasn’t announced a release date or plot details (Netflix Tudum).
What We Know
Not much, on purpose. Tudum says the logline is under wraps and describes the film only as a romance inspired by Urban Hang Suite (Netflix Tudum). That album is a slow-burn concept record about falling for one woman, so the source is a clue in itself.
Ashe has done this kind of music-soaked love story before: he wrote and directed Sylvie’s Love. Oyegun created the drama Kindred. James Lopez, Charles D. King and Poppy Hanks produce for MACRO, with Maxwell and John D. Hammond among the executive producers (Netflix Tudum).
The rest of the ensemble includes Pauletta Washington, Grasie Mercedes, Navia Robinson and Yolonda Ross (Netflix Tudum).
The Pit Take
We think this is a lovely idea. Love Jones is a cult classic because Long and Tate made grown-up romance feel cool, and pairing them with Maxwell’s most romantic album is about as on-brand as Netflix gets. The open question is tone: a reunion like this works best if it’s about who these two are now, not a nostalgia replay. For more movie news, see The Man With the Bag trailer and the rest of Movies.
The Background
Love Jones (1997) starred Long and Tate as a photographer and a poet falling for each other in Chicago’s Black arts scene (Netflix Tudum). Our image is a 2009 photo of Long at The Heart Truth fashion show; no recent licensed photo of her was available.
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