Janelle Monáe and M3GAN screenwriter are developing a Medusa movie

Akela Cooper is working on the screenplay of a Medusa movie called Don't Look.

By Mary Kate Carr  |  October 23, 2024 | 1:09pm
Photo by: Marleen Moise/Getty Images
Film News Janelle Monae
Janelle Monáe and M3GAN screenwriter are developing a Medusa movie

Janelle Monáe is honored and “humbled” to be bestowed with the mantle of “HalloQueen.” Monáe is incredibly serious about the holiday and has emerged as a celebrity to watch in terms of annual costumes, which they view as performance art. (Apparently, they have a mysterious wealthy benefactor that helps foot the bill for the elaborate makeup and wardrobe every year.) But she also has a lot of “original ideas” to bring this transformative magic into her acting work. “I’ve been developing characters with my SFX team for albums, for movies,” Monáe says in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I cannot wait until the moment comes where we have a script and we’re ready to shoot it.”

Monáe shares, “I have my own TV and film company, Wondaland Pictures, and we are looking to have more conversations and partner with folks whose taste aligns with ours and with mine. Halloween gives me so many original IP ideas for horror films, psychological thrillers, science fiction, sci-fi worlds.” Specifically, they tease, “I have a film that I’m developing with Universal and [M3GAN screenwriter] Akela Cooper, who’s a fantastic writer. It’s based on the Medusa story and it’s called Don’t Look. I’m so excited about that. It’s going to be a horror film that, again, is a play on the Greek Medusa story.”

The Glass Onion star is a true horror head, reminiscing in the interview about the first time seeing Nightmare On Elm Street and having access to great films like Night Of The Living Dead and Psycho while working at Blockbuster in her pre-fame years. “Halloween is such a happy space for me. It has been since I was a kid,” Monáe says. “It opens a larger conversation of how do we become agents of joy? How do we become agents of happy? How do we become agents of imaginations? I’m just doing what I want to see more of. Bringing Halloween experiences and creative experiences is heart work, not hard work. I do this because my heart needs it.”

 
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