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Lena Waithe reveals she’s working on movie with Issa Rae about friendship breakup

70 1 minute read

(L-R) Lena Waithe and Issa Rae attend the BET Awards 2021 at Microsoft Theater on June 27, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for BET)

Lena Waithe may be working on the final season of The Chi, but she has another project in the works. She teases an upcoming collaboration with Issa Rae during her episode of Bustle’s One Nightstand series.

“I’m working on this movie for myself and Issa Rae. It’s a really cool idea about us being friends and having a bit of a friendship breakup, and it’s really funny and silly. I was supposed to be writing beats for her, but I ultimately just started writing the script,” Lena shares.

“She and I [were] Zooming and talking and figuring out how it could be,” Lena continues, noting the characters are “thinly-veiled versions” of who they really are. “The characters’ names [are] Lena and Issa, I’m not even being that imaginative about it,” she shares.

On whether they will actually star in the film, Lena says, “Yeah, we want to. So this is definitely an exclusive. Issa’s going to be like, ‘Oh s***, well now we got to do it.’”

The full interview, which finds Lena discussing her favorite books, is now on YouTube.