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‘Westworld’ Star Tessa Thompson Reveals Why She's 'So Excited' for Her Latest Project

tessa thompson

Tessa Thompson is in the midst of filming one of her most exciting projects to date, Passing.

Recently, the Westworld star hosted the first-ever American Express Platinum House to celebrate Small Business Saturday. During the event, she opened up exclusively to PureWow about the upcoming film and her love for shooting in New York. 

“The best part of filming in New York City, particularly with this film, is we are shooting in a lot of the neighborhoods where the film takes place, which is Harlem,” she said. “It's beautiful. I realize how historical this city is. There are locations, minus a couple of things, that look like they did in the late 1920s. Beautiful old historic brownstones. I just love New York.” We can totally agree.

We also asked the Men in Black actress for some inside details on the film. And while she couldn’t give us too much info, she did reveal that the project has been in the works for over almost a decade.
 
“I can't say much about the film other than it stars Ruth Negga, Alexander Skarsgard, Andre Holland and myself,” she said. “It's based on Nella Larsen's novella, by the same name, that explores these two women that come back into each other's lives and in some ways dismantles them. It's written and directed by Rebecca Hall, a fantastic actor that I have so admired for so long. This has been her passion project for over a decade, so I'm so excited to be involved.”

The book (which is classified as a tragedy) tells the story of two light-skinned black women, Irene and Clare. Irene “passes” for white, eventually abandoning her black heritage, while Clare, who can also pass, remains proud of her racial background. 

The film has no release date as of yet but is expected to hit theaters sometime in 2020. If you need us, we’ll be reading the novel to prepare.

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