In the sea of faces that have had major impacts on Hollywood and the film industry over the last few years, two will undoubtedly stick out: Ava DuVernay and Lupita Nyong’o. Nyong’o made history when she took home the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in 12 Years a Slave in 2015, and DuVernay’s Selma was the film heard around the world in a pivotal year for both the #BlackLivesMatter movement and recognition of the actual events in Selma, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015. The film’s nomiation for Best Picture made DuVernay the first black woman to ever be nominated for the award. The two leading ladies continue to dominate, from DuVernay getting her own Barbie, to Lupita has becoming one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, N’yongo has signed on to star in a Sci-Fi thriller, Intelligent Life, and the films producers are looking to tap DuVernay to direct the movie. Details on the film are still vague, the plot is based on a United Nations worker whose job is dedicated to mediating contact between aliens and humans should it ever occur. When that worker falls in love with an alien, Nyong’o will play a character that finds herself right in the middle of all of it.
