Brian Cox, Kelly Reilly, Brooklynn Prince & Che Tafari Board Paramount+’s Coming-Of-Age Film ‘Little Wing’ From Awesomeness

Matt Grobar
·5 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Brian Cox (Succession), Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone), Brooklynn Prince (Cocaine Bear) and Che Tafari (Me Time) are set to lead Little Wing, a new Paramount+ coming-of-age film from Awesomeness, which DGA Award nominee Dean Israelite (Are You Afraid of the Dark?) is directing from a script by Oscar nom John Gatins (Flight).

The film now in production in Oregon, which has been a passion project for Israelite over the past decade, is inspired by the New Yorker article of the same name by Susan Orlean. This is the story of Kaitlyn (Prince), a 13-year-old girl who, reeling from her parents’ divorce and the pending loss of her home, is drawn into the world of pigeon racing. She hopes to solve her family’s financial woes by stealing a valuable bird, but instead forms a bond with the owner who cultivates her love of the sport.

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Cox plays Jaan, the pigeon racer, with Reilly as Kaitlyn’s mom Maddie, and Tafari as her classmate and friend, Adam.

Producers on Little Wing are Gatins and Naomi Despres. Israelite, Karen Rosenfelt, Donald De Line, Susan Orlean, Cox, Don Dunn and Liz Brandenburg are exec producing.

Cox is coming off of a Golden Globe-winning and 2x Emmy-nominated performance as media mogul patriarch Logan Roy, which has set the internet on fire over the course of four seasons, provoking an all-new level of conversation just recently with one of the show’s final episodes. The Jesse Armstrong-created HBO drama, which has had him starring alongside Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Alan Ruck and more, will come to a close on May 28th.

Previously recognized with an Emmy, five SAG Award noms and one win as part of Succession‘s ensemble, Indedepent Spirit and Critics’ Choice Award noms and more, Cox has also been seen over the years on such series as Medici, Penny Dreadful, War & Peace, Deadwood and Frasier, to name a few. Notable film credits include Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Coriolanus, RED and RED 2, Zodiac, Red Eye, Match Point, Troy, The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy, Adaptation., The Ring, The Rookie, Super Troopers, Rushmore and Braveheart. Cox will next be seen in the Catherine Hardwicke drama Prisoner’s Daughter, the Russo brothers’ The Electric State, the New Line horror-comedy The Parenting and more.

A Critics’ Choice Award nominee perhaps best known for her role as Beth Dutton in the hugely popular rancher drama series Yellowstone from Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, which is currently in the middle of its fifth season on Paramount Network, Reilly has also been seen on series including Prime Video/Epix’s Brittania, HBO’s True Detective and ABC’s Black Box. Best known on the film side for roles in John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary, the Gatins-penned Flight helmed by Robert Zemeckis, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes titles and Pride & Prejudice, she’ll also soon be seen in Zemeckis’ drama Here and Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice.

Most recently starring in Uni’s horror-comedy Cocaine Bear from director Elizabeth Banks which grossed over $85M worldwide, Prince broke out with her Critics’ Choice Award-winning turn opposite Willem Dafoe in Sean Baker’s Academy Award-nominated A24 coming-of-age drama, The Florida Project. She played a lead role in Apple’s mystery series Home Before Dark and previously appeared in big box-office grosser The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, also lending her voice to the films The One and Only Ivan and The Angry Birds Movie 2. Up next for the actress is Neil Burger’s thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter, based on the novel by Karen Dionne, which has her starring opposite Ben Mendelsohn and Daisy Ridley.

Tafari has previously been seen in the Netflix comedy Me Time topped by Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg, as well as HBO Max’s holiday family comedy, 8-Bit Christmas. His TV credits include The Good Fight, High Maintenance, The Good Place, Rel, Daredevil, Random Acts of Flyness and Difficult People.

Israelite earned two of his three DGA Award noms for his work on a revival of the kids’ horror anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark?, which he also exec produced. He previously directed and EP’d the space drama The Astronauts from Nickelodeon and Imagine Entertainment and has also helmed the features Project Almanac and Power Rangers for Paramount/Platinum Dunes and Lionsgate/Saban, respectively. The latter, based on the beloved superhero characters of the same name, grossed over $142M globally. The filmmaker is also attached to direct the film Rouge for STX with Phantom Four and Tencent producing. Additionally, he’s currently writing a supernatural thriller called Minotaur for Amblin, and working on a pilot called Chief, about Africa’s ivory trade, for AGBO.

Gatins earned Oscar, Critics’ Choice and WGA Award nominations for his work on Zemeckis’ Flight, starring Denzel Washington, and has also contributed to the writing of such films as Power Rangers, Real Steel and Coach Carter. He wrote and directed the family drama Dreamer, starring Kurt Russell and a young Dakota Fanning, and also contributed to the story of the films Kong: Skull Island and Need for Speed.

Israelite is represented by Artists First, WME and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Gatins by UTA and Felker Toczek Suddleson; Cox by Paradigm, Insight Entertainment and Conway van Gelder Grant; Reilly by CAA; Prince by UTA, Sugar23 and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; and Tafari by CESD and Industry Entertainment.

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