The rapper grew up in Portsmouth, near Pharrell’s hometown of Virginia Beach, where the movie will be set
Missy Elliot has joined the cast of Pharrell Williams and Michel Gondry’s upcoming film project, Variety reports.
The rapper is an apt addition to the project, which has been described as a coming-of-age musical set during the summer of 1977 in Virginia Beach in a neighborhood like the one where Pharrell grew up. Missy was born and raised not far away in Portsmouth, and the two came up in a bustling Hampton Roads hip-hop scene that also produced artists like Timbaland, Clipse, and Magoo.
Missy joins an already stacked cast that also includes Halle Bailey, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Brian Tyree Henry, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. Pharrell is attached as a producer, while Gondry is set to direct the as-yet-untitled project; Martin Hynes and Steven Levenson are working on the script.
Over the years, Missy Elliott has popped up in various film and TV projects. She made her film debut in the 2001 comedy Pootie Tang and played a fish version of herself in the 2004 animated kids movie Shark Tale. On TV, she’s lent her voice to American Dad!, while in 2017, she appeared on two episodes of the drama series Star.
Missy is currently gearing up for a major summer that will find her embarking on what is technically — and remarkably — her first headlining tour. The 24-date “Out of This World: The Missy Elliott Experience” trek will start July 4 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver and run through the summer, wrapping Aug. 22 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Missy will be joined by some of her closest friends and collaborators throughout the trek, including Ciara, Busta Rhymes, and Timbaland
