Top 100 Most Anticipated American Indie Films of 2018: #49. Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You

Sorry to Bother You

The moment hip hop artist Boots Riley took Sorry to Bother You to the Sundance labs (2015 June Screenwriters Lab and 2016 Directors Lab) it was jettisoned into a feature film with no time to waste. A filmmaking debut landed a crazy producing team (Nina Yang Bongiovi and Forest Whitaker, Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams, Charles D. King and George Rush) and all the elements were then put into place for a dream ensemble with production taking place in Oakland, California at the midway mark last year.

With Lakeith Stanfield, Armie Hammer, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Danny Glover, David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Kate Berlant and Robert Longstreet, this is about a black telemarketer (Stanfield) with self-esteem issues discovers a magical key to business success, propelling him to the upper echelons of the hierarchy just as his activist comrades are rising up against unjust labor practices. When he uncovers the macabre secret of his corporate overlords, he must decide whether to stand up or sell out. We know the soundtrack will be solid and all the elements are there, but on paper, this sounds dope.

Release Date/Prediction: This was selected for the U.S. Dramatic Comp at the Sundance Film Festival.