Amandla Stenberg, who played Rue in “The Hunger Games,” has signed on to star in the film adaptation the YA book by “Everything Everything” by Nicola Yoon, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Stella Meghie, whose debut feature was this year’s “Jean of the Joneses,” will direct.
The story tells of Maddy, “a teen who has severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a rare disease that causes her to be allergic to practically everything. She has spent 17 years hiding out in her home, only seeing her mother and her nurse, Carla. But when a boy named Olly moves in next door, Maddy begins to fall in love.”
Stenberg will play Maddy, with Nick Robinson (“Jurassic World”) As Olly.
Stenberg has many projects coming up. She’ll star in Amma Asante’s next feature, a romance set against the backdrop of WWII Germany. “Where Hands Touch” centers on the relationship between a 17-year-old mixed-race German girl (Stenberg) and a 19-year-old German soldier. She’s also set to star in the film adaptation of “The Hate U Give,” an upcoming YA novel inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. And you may have caught her on TV in “Sleepy Hollow” or “Mr. Robinson.”
Meghie premiered “Jean and the Joneses” at SXSW 2016. While there unveiling her debut, she told Women and Hollywood that her advice to other female directors was, “Don’t care what people are thinking about you if you have to say no, or if you have to ask for something you need to do your job properly.”
