Lakeith Stanfield's New Movie Gets (Sur)real About Race In The Workplace
The trailer for “Sorry to Bother You,” the semi-dystopian movie that explores what it’s like to work in corporate spaces while black, is finally here.
Set in Oakland, the film follows Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield), a black telemarketer trying to navigate an alternate-reality version of a very white corporate office.
Green finds, as many black people do, that he must code-switch to excel. But the comedic sci-fi twist takes this idea a bit further. Cassuis’ co-worker, played by Danny Glover, reveals to him that true success can be found in literally imitating a white man’s voice.
“If you want to make money here, use your white voice, and I don’t mean ‘Will Smith white,’” he says in the trailer, which you can watch above.
From here on, Cassius literally changes his voice, accent and tone to mimic a white man’s, immediately skyrocketing into success and falling into a macabre world where the stakes only get higher. A mixture of comedy and social commentary, “Sorry To Bother You” explores the dangers and benefits of approximating whiteness.
“Sorry to Bother You,” directed by Boots Riley, is out July 8. The film also stars Tessa Thompson, Terry Crews and Omari Hardwick, among others.
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