Hot off her turn as a math wiz in “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” Zendaya’s newest project sees her enrolling at one of the most prestigious liberal arts schools in the United States. The “K.C. Undercover” star will produce and topline “A White Lie,” Variety reports. She’s portraying Anita Hemmings, the first African-American woman to graduate from Vassar College.
Based on Karin Tanabe’s 2016 historical novel “The Gilded Years,” the thriller follows Hemmings’ unlikely scholastic journey. The “light-skinned, African-American woman …was the descendant of slaves and passed as white so she could attend Vassar during the 1890s,” the source writes. In this new, elite setting, she’s “treated as a wealthy, educated white woman [and] finds romance with a moneyed Harvard student.”
“I hope readers will be inspired by the theme of going for broke to obtain something that you rightfully deserve,” Tanabe said of her book. She explained, “We as women often have to get over ridiculous hurdles to move up, with women of color often facing even bigger challenges, and I hope readers will feel empowered by the way Anita lived her life. She fought through heartbreaking prejudice, racism, and classism to have the education she was qualified for, taking huge risks and throwing caution to the wind. To take her from 1897 to 2016, let’s just say she ignored the haters, broke the bullshit rules, and entered college like a boss.”
Monica Beletsky, whose credits include “Fargo,” “Parenthood,” and “Friday Night Lights,” will pen the adaptation. No word on who will direct.
Zendaya is producing along with Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter of Hello Sunshine.
