“The Chi’s” Jacob Latimore has been cast as one of the new leads for the upcoming House Party reboot. It was originally announced that the film would star Jorge Lendeborg Jr. and Tosin Cole, but according to Deadline, Lendeborg left to focus on his mental health, a decision that both the studio and filmmakers were supportive of.
Cole and Latimore will now star in the reimaged film first set in to play in the ’90s with rap duo Kid ‘N Play. LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter are producing the updated remix version of the classic hip-hop movie. Reginald Hudlin and Warrington Hudlin, producers of the original film, will executive produce the new version as well. Reginald also directed the original House Party.
The script for the reimaged House Party was written by Stephen Glover and Jamal Olori, writers of the Emmy-nominated FX series “Atlanta.” Award-winning music video director Calmatic, who directed Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus in “Old Town Road,” will make his feature directorial debut with the film. Calmatic’s resume also includes music video projects with Pharrell, Jay-Z, Khalid, Ty Dolla $ign and Anderson Paak.
The original movie featured a couple of teenagers who throw a big bash when their parents were away. House Party spawned four sequels and the film also ignited the careers of Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell. Karen Obilom, DC Young Fly, Shakira Ja’nai Paye, Tamera Kissen and Bill Bellamy have also been cast in the reimagined version as well.
Christopher “Kid” Reid who starred in the original gave LeBron James a thumbs up and stated that the franchise was in good hands.
“Yeah, it’s official, and I’ve actually known about this for the last two or three years, that LeBron James had acquired the rights to do House Party and had enlisted the aid of some of the producers and writers from the TV show ‘Atlanta,’ so I heard about this over two years ago,” he told Vlad TV.
“I remember being excited about it then because I know LeBron loves the old school, loves House Party and he’s … going to pay respect to the franchise. And the crew over at the tv series ‘Atlanta,’ that’s one of my favorite shows, I love it and I think that’s a great combination to do something new with it,” Reid commented in the interview.
