Fresh off the success of his world-beating, critically acclaimed television series I’m a Virgo, Oakland filmmaker Boots Riley has announced details about his newest film project, I Love Boosters.
Riley first teased the movie back in May, when he first gave word that Neon would produce his new film starring Keke Palmer as Corvette, the leader of a ring of female shoplifters called the Velvet Gang. In the movie, the crew of “boosters” goes up against a cutthroat fashion maven.
Now, Deadline reports additional details about I Love Boosters, including the rest of what is shaping up to be a dream team of an ensemble cast: In addition to Palmer (Nope), the film will also feature the Demi Moore, Naomi Ackie (I Wanna Dance With Somebody) and previous Riley collaborator LaKeith Stanfield, whose breakout role was in Riley’s 2018 debut, the anti-capitalist masterpiece Sorry to Bother You.
An activist, MC and all around multihyphenate in addition to his burgeoning film career, Riley hasn’t been shy about weighing in on what he perceives to be a “fake ‘crime wave’ narrative” in Oakland — largely centered on a rise in “bipping” and non-violent retail theft — that has been weaponized against Black folks and other people of color.
Fans of Riley’s work will have to wait until the film’s release to see what insight it offers into the politicization of those narratives, but a quick listen to this 2006 song by Riley’s band, The Coup — also called “I Love Boosters!” — can give some glimpse into his sensibility:
For some of y’all folks, this stuff might faze ya / This ain’t the way the society raised ya / But most of it was made by children in Asia / The stores make money off of very low wages / The next time you see two women running out the Gap / With arms full of clothes still strapped to the rack / Once they jump in the car, hit the gas and scat / If you have to say something, just stand and clap
I Love Boosters is set to begin filming later this fall.
