Issa Rae May Be Doing a Lot More Projects With Will Packer After Little

Issa Rae and Marsai Martin in Little
(Image credit: (Universal))

Insecure series creator and star Issa Rae is making her leading big-screen debut this weekend alongside Marsai Martin in Big switcheroo, Little. The comedy may be the start of a beautiful partnership between the talent and Will Packer Productions, who has previously given Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish breakout movie roles (Ride Along and Girls Trip) that rocketed them into super-stardom.

Only time will tell if Little is Issa Rae’s, but you can bet Will Packer fell head over heels for Rae’s comedy chops in their first collaboration. In my recent interview with the producer, he couldn’t help gushing about her. In Packer’s words:

I love Issa, I would do a lot with her.

Yes! The actress has made a name for herself on HBO as the voice of her own series that centers on her own awkward experiences (mostly hilarious, sometimes a whole lot of dramatic) living in Los Angeles but more roles on the big screen is certainly the next step for her. Will Packer continued showing his love for Issa Rae by discussing the next he has going with her. Check out what he told me:

We've got another movie that is actually shooting right now. It's a love story called The Photograph and it's her and LaKeith Stanfield, a movie that's written and directed by a young female filmmaker named Stella Meghie. I'm very excited about it. I think that it's going to allow Issa to do something different. She's still going to bring her charm and her charisma. She's got a very unproduced quality about her. She's very natural, straightforward, what you see is what you get quality that I think is relatable to audiences. So she's bringing that to that project. But I just think that she is somebody that is the voice of the millennial generation in a different way than anybody else is doing right now.

This is definitely exciting. We may be witnessing the start of a very successful comedic career for Issa Rae with her work with blockbuster producer Will Packer. The Photograph is her next project that Universal has wasted no time getting up and running as it’s currently in production. According to Variety, the romantic-drama will focus on two intertwining love stories in the past and present and has a release date set for Valentine’s Day in 2020.

Issa Rae will be starring alongside LaKeith Stanfield who recently starred in Sorry to Bother You and Get Out. The actress also just wrapped filming a rom-com with Kumail Nanjiani called The Lovebirds. The film also set for release in early 2020 will be directed by Michael Showalter, who helmed Oscar-nominated rom-com The Big Sick. Issa Rae is also signed on to star in two other comedies in the future called Empress of Serenity and American Princess.

Get ready for a whole lot of more Issa Rae! The actress certainly has a relatable and funny charm that looks to be taking her far. Her new comedy Little is in theaters now.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.