“Awkward Black Girl” writer, producer, and actress Tracy Oliver has signed on to adapt “The Sun Is Also a Star,” Nicola Yoon’s bestselling YA novel. Deadline reports that Warner Bros. and MGM teamed up to acquire the rights to the critically acclaimed book.
A finalist for the 2016 National Book Award, “The Sun Is Also a Star” centers on “two teens [who] fall in love on one fateful day as [one of them] fights against her family’s deportation.”
We identified Oliver as “a woman to watch” earlier this year. In addition to her work alongside Issa Rae on “Awkward Black Girl,” Oliver’s credits include co-writing “Barbershop: The Next Cut” and the upcoming “Girls Trip,” which stars Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Kate Walsh. She’s also developing a Misty Copeland dance drama for 20th Century Fox Television.
“Just a few short years ago, in 2011, my choice to write about people of color was one I was constantly forced to defend,” Oliver has said. “That time period was really bleak for writers, directors, actors, and producers of color. I remember the hopelessness I felt when I graduated from USC’s film school and looked at the lily-white landscape of my industry of choice.” According to Oliver, the situation is improving. “In 2016, things are changing due to the success of a string of web series, films, and television shows with diverse casts,” she explained.
Alloy Entertainment’s Les Morgenstein and Elysa Dutton are set to produce “The Sun Is Also a Star,” and Oliver will executive produce. No word on who will direct.
“The Sun Is Also a Star” is Yoon’s second novel. Her first, “Everything Everything,” was also adapted for the big screen, and is due in theaters in May 2017. Amandla Stenberg (“The Hunger Games”) stars as a teen with a rare disease that causes her to be allergic to almost everything. Stella Meghie (“Jean of the Joneses”) directed the feature.
