The first trailer for new horror film Slice, Chance the Rapper’s screen debut, has been released by indie studio A24, the company behind Moonlight and Lady Bird.
Written and directed by Austin Veseley, Chance’s longtime collaborator and director of many of his music videos (including Brain Cells, Sunday Candy and Angels), the film is being billed as “the story of a ghost, a werewolf and a pretty shitty pizza place.”
“In a spooky small town, when a slew of pizza delivery boys are slain on the job, two daring survivors (Atlanta’s Zazie Beetz and Chance the Rapper in a wild film debut) set out to catch the culprits behind the cryptic crime spree,” reads the description for the film, which co-stars Joe Keery of Stranger Things and the comedian Paul Scheer.
“People ask me often if the film is really scary. I hope it has its moments but it’s more of a comedy for me. Tonally, I was really inspired by Twin Peaks, if that says anything,” Vesely said about Slice back in 2016. “I studied Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies to figure out how to balance multiple narratives. TV shows as well, like Twin Peaks, to discover how to establish a sense of place. I guess this movie is like Magnolia with ghosts. Just kidding. Kind of.”
Slice marks yet another venture outside of hip-hop for Chance the Rapper, whose album Coloring Book became the first ever streaming-only record to win a Grammy in 2017.
Earlier this summer, in a new song called I Might Need Security, the 25-year-old announced he’d purchased the website Chicagoist, a local news outlet in his hometown. “I bought the Chicagoist just to run you racist bitches outta business,” he rapped. In a statement, he added he was looking forward “to re-launching it and bringing the people of Chicago an independent media outlet focused on amplifying diverse voices and content.”
While Slice, first announced by Vesely in October 2016, does not yet have a release date, it’s expected to hit theaters later this year.
