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SYFY WIRE Daniel Kaluuya

Netflix cooking up dystopian drama 'The Kitchen' from writer Daniel Kaluuya & producer Michael Fassbender

The movie will take place in 2044 where the divide between rich and poor has reached a breaking point. 

By Josh Weiss
(L-R) Daniel Kaluuya and Michael Fassbender

Daniel Kaluuya's tenure in the world of genre continues at Netflix in a dystopian drama entitled The Kitchen, Variety confirmed Wednesday morning. Co-written by the Get Out and Black Panther star along with Gangs of London scribe, Joe Murtagh, the film is being executive produced by X-Men franchise veteran, Michael Fassbender.

The script — whose roots can be traced back to the 2016 Sundance Screenwriting and Directing Lab — is based on an original idea by Kaluuya, Kibwe Tavares (Noughts + Crosses), and Daniel Emmerson (Calm with Horses). Tavares, a winner of the Sundance Special Jury Award, has been tapped to direct, with Netflix planning to debut the film sometime next year.

The movie will take place in 2044 where the divide between rich and poor has reached a breaking point. 

“All forms of social housing have been eradicated and London’s working classes have been forced to live in temporary accommodation on the outskirts of the city," reads the synopsis provided by Variety. "The Kitchen is the first and the largest of its kind, it’s London’s last village harboring residents that refuse to move on and move out of the place they call home. It’s here we meet Izi, a resident of the kitchen who is desperately trying to find a way out, and 12-year-old, Benji, who has lost his mother and is searching for a family. We follow our unlikely pair as they battle to survive in a system that is stacked against them."

Kane Robinson (Top Boy) and newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman are set to play Izi and Benji, respectively. Principal photography is expected to take place on the ground in London and Paris, though it's unclear when the camera will officially start to roll. David Kimbangi (Foresight) and Ollie Madden (Last Night in Soho) are executive producers on behalf of Film4.

“In 2011, I was in my barbershop and there was a guy boasting about smash and grabs — kids doing million-pound heists in a minute, getting paid £200 [$260] to do it,” Kaluuya said in a statement, recalling the origins of the project. “I saw the potential to unlock a unique story door to the inequality, fatherhood, class, joy, resilience, courage, defiance and care of London.”

The Kitchen is very much a love letter to London, the city that has defined my childhood and ultimately my identity," added Tavares. "It’s set in an extreme version of our current world; our characters have little choice but to let the city take over them. Through Benji, a 12-year-old in need of care, we explore what we as society lose in the ever changing and shifting patterns of life, of our cities. This is a film for all the communities out there that are trying to take care of each other."

Fiona Lamptey, head of Netflix's feature-length productions in the United Kingdom, described the movie as "ambitious" and "timely," going on to promise that it "will showcase the great vision [Kibwe] has as a filmmaker, bringing the exciting world-building and textured nuances from Daniel Kaluuya’s debut feature script to our screens."

Kaluuya's second horror collaboration with writer-director Jordan Peele — Nope — arrives in theaters this July. The actor is also expected to reprise the role of W'Kabi in Ryan Coogler's Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever (slated for a wide release in November).