Gugu Mbatha-Raw is a different kind of superhero in trailer for 'Fast Color'

Clark Collis
Updated

In Fast Color (out March 29), Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Ruth, a woman who went on the run when her superhuman abilities were discovered. Now, years after abandoning her family, the only place she has left to hide is the farmhouse where she grew up.

Fast Color is directed by Julia Hart (Miss Stevens) and written by Hart and her film producer husband Jordan Horowitz (La La Land).

“My husband and I came up with the idea for the movie when we became parents,” says Hart. “I just felt this superhuman strength that I had never felt before when I became a mother. So, the idea for the movie came from this notion that mothers are superheroes. I realized that I’d never seen a movie where there was actually a superhero who was a mother. That was the origin of it, about these three generations of women — a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter — using their relationship with each other to understand, and accept, and use their powers.”

Hart decided to cast Mbatha-Raw after seeing the actress in the 2014 drama, Beyond the Lights.

Fast Color, which also stars Christopher Denham and David Strathairn, received its world premiere at last year’s SXSW Film Festival.

“I really struggle with some festivals and press and stuff, just because it makes me really nervous,” says Hart. “It’s scary sharing your movie with the world. This was by far and away the most wonderful experience I’ve ever had at a festival. I was seven months pregnant with my second child, and Gugu came and Saniyya came, and Barry Jenkins did our Q&A. It was just one of those nights I’ll never forget.”