As Chris Rock revealed this past summer, he has Kanye West to thank for the name of his “Black Plague” comedy tour. Now, Rock has once again relied upon Yeezus’ creative insights, as he recently recruited both Kanye and Jay Z to serve as a producers for his pseudo-biographical comedy film, Top Five.
As Deadline reports, the film, which Rock wrote and directed, made its world premiere last weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival. After receiving a “raucous reaction” from reviewers and audience members, Paramount aquired the rights to the film for $12.5 million, making it one of the biggest deals of this year’s TIFF proceedings.
In describing the film’s premise, Deadline wrote, “Top Five tells the story of New York City comedian-turned-film star Andre Allen (Rock), whose unexpected encounter with a journalist (Rosario Dawson) forces him to confront the comedy career—and the past—that he’s left behind.” The film also stars Kevin Hart, Tracy Morgan, Jay Pharoah, Cedric The Entertainer, Sherri Shepher, Michael Che, J.B. Smoove, Anders Holm, and Romany Malco.
Further bolstering its already A-list credibility, Questlove serves as the film’s executive music producer. Meanwhile, West and Jay Z are joined in the producer’s circle by Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men, The Truman Show) and Eli Bush (Captain Phillips and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
A wide release for the film has yet to be announced.
In the meantime, check out the very first Rock-West collaboration, “Blame Game”. (There’s a Rock monologue at the end, so it totally counts.)