It’s been six years since Janicza Bravo last directed a feature, with her acclaimed 2020 black comedy “Zola” marking her most recent film behind the camera. Since then, Bravo has remained busy with television, directing episodes of “Atlanta,” “The Resort,” and “The Bear.”
Bravo’s return to the big screen has proved elusive. That may finally be changing, however, as while her Martha Stewart biopic, starring Cate Blanchett, remains in development, a Production Weekly listing hints at Bravo entering production on a whole other film, and soon.
Bravo is set to direct “Preppy,” which starts shooting on September 21 in New York City.
Based on the infamous 1986 “Preppy Murder,” two young women unknowingly fall for the same charming, dangerous man during a sweltering New York summer. When one is found murdered in Central Park, the sensational case ignites a media firestorm over sex, privilege, and victims’ rights.
No cast has been announced, but I gather we’ll get details very soon. A 2027 release is very much a reality, as production is supposed to wrap up in late October.
This is great news, as “Zola” was a promising debut. That film followed a Detroit stripper who agrees to join a new friend on a road trip to Tampa, only to discover that the trip is actually part of a dangerous prostitution scheme concocted by an outlandish pimp (Colman Domingo, batsh*t crazy in his best performance).
Bravo’s film was actually based on a viral 2015 Twitter thread, and she turned that chaotic 48-hour story into a highly stylish, relentlessly outrageous film.
Starring Helen Mirren, the film reimagines the final chapter of Patricia Highsmith’s life through a fictional encounter with an ambitious young literary agent, played by Alden Ehrenreich.