10 Unexpected Actors Making Directorial Debuts In 2019

7. Thandie Newton - One Crazy Summer

Booksmart Olivia Wilde
HBO

Thandie Newton has been a busy woman of late. Having worked the majority of her career acting in films, she recently moved into television too.

As well as a positively received turn in The Line Of Duty, she took a central role in HBO’s Westworld, earning an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in her first season, before winning the award in her second.

Not satisfied with just branching out to the small screen though, Newton has also took a step behind the camera for her debut feature, One Crazy Summer. It shares its title with the 80s comedy about a teenage cartoonist, but it’s not a remake of this (thankfully).

Speaking on RuPaul’s podcast ‘What’s The Tea?’, Newton confirmed that the movie would be an adaptation of Rita Williams-Garcia’s YA novel about three young girls living with their father in Brooklyn who are sent to California for One Crazy Summer to reunite with their estranged mother.

Set in the 1960s, the novel focuses on the Black Panther group and the women’s liberation movement, as well as the smaller themes of family and togetherness. It’s an ambitious first project but Newton has shown she has what it takes to do anything.

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