Lakeith Stanfield has been all over the big (and small) screen lately. From Atlanta to Get Out to Sorry To Bother You, which you can see in theaters now, Stanfield has been busy — and he has another lead role in the works for a movie adaptation of Prince of Cats, a Romeo & Juliet reimagining set in Brooklyn.
Deadline first reported the news that Lakeith Stanfield will star in the graphic novel movie adaptation, for which Legendary Entertainment won an auction for the feature rights. Here’s what we know about the project so far.
What is Prince of Cats: A Brooklyn Romeo & Juliet remake
Prince of Cats is a graphic novel by Ron Wimberly, originally published in 2012 and re-released in 2016. The book tells the story of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet but in a new setting — 1980s Brooklyn — and with a shift of focus on the character Tybalt, Romeo’s rival.
“A hip-hop retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that focuses on Tybalt (derisively referred to as ‘the Prince of Cats’) and his Capulet crew as they do battle nightly with the hated Montagues,” the Prince of Cats synopsis reads. “Set in a Blade Runner-esque version of Brooklyn, Prince of Cats is a mix of urban melodrama, samurai action and classic Shakespearean theater…all written in Iambic Pentameter!”
The graphic novel has received praise from A.V. Club to NPR for how it makes the classic Shakespeare tale interesting riveting in a new way.
For New Yorkers, Romeo & Juliet becomes relatable thanks to the Brooklyn scenery in Prince of Cats. In one scene, per NPR, Juliet describes her view from the top of the Coney Island Ferris Wheel.
What we know about the Prince of Cats movie with Lakeith Stanfield
Lakeith Stanfield has been tapped to play the lead role of Tybalt, according to Deadline. The Prince of Cats story will be adapted to the screen by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, a producer, writer and previous editor of The Source, a New York City-based magazine covering hip hop, sports and entertainment.
Jon Silk — a producer behind movies like Terminator Salvation, It and Gangster Squad — brought the Brooklyn Romeo & Juliet remake in to Legendary Entertainment, per Deadline, and is overseeing the project with Ali Mendes, who has worked on Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Black Swan.
A director has not yet been announced, nor a timeline, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled out for more info on when we can see Lakeith Stanfield in the Brooklyn Romeo & Juliet revamp.
