Damon Wayans (Fox’s Lethal Weapon) and Pam Grier (Jackie Brown) have signed on to star alongside Hailey Kilgore, David Iacono and Jeremie Harris in the noir thriller Cinnamon, which will debut exclusively on Fox’s free streaming service, Tubi, later this year.
The film currently in production in Atlanta follows a struggling small-town gas station attendant and aspiring singer, Jodi Jackson (Kilgore), whose life is sent into a tailspin when there’s a robbery at work. As previously announced, Iacono is playing Jodi’s fiercely devoted hustler boyfriend turned music manager, Eddie, with Harris as James Walker, a young gangster in the drug running business.
Grier will play Mama, the undisputed head of her family’s criminal organization, whose son James executes her wishes. Wayans will portray Wally, the owner of the convenience store that gets robbed. He’s a businessman who also owns a used car lot that has made him a fixture on local TV commercials. Wally is deeply in debt to James and Mama; he borrowed money from them to start his businesses, is badly over-extended, and has been aggressively cooking the books to give himself a better lifestyle and maximize his profits (by cheating his partners).
Cinnamon is the first movie in production under Tubi’s recently announced film deal with Village Roadshow Pictures to produce multiple films from its “Black Noir Cinema” initiative. Rising filmmaker Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr. is directing from his script, with Kevin Garnett producing via his Content Cartel, alongside Oz Scott.
Wayans is a four-time Emmy nominee perhaps best known for co-creating and starring in the iconic sketch series, In Living Color. He most recently starred as Roger Murtaugh on Fox’s Lethal Weapon series and has also appeared on the TV side in series including Happy Endings, The Underground, My Wife and Kids, Damon and Saturday Night Live. His film credits include Farce of the Penguins, Bamboozled, Celtic Pride, Major Payne, Last Action Hero, Mo’ Money, The Last Boy Scout, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Earth Girls Are Easy and Beverly Hills Cop.
Grier is a Golden Globe nominee known for her turns in series including Bless This Mess and such films as Jackie Brown, Foxy Brown and Coffy, who will next appear in Lindsey Beer’s Untitled Pet Sematary Project for Paramount+. She’s also appeared in films including Bad Grandmas, The Man with the Iron Fists, Larry Crowne, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Ghosts of Mars, Love the Hard Way, Snow Day, Mars Attacks!, Escape from L.A. and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. Additional TV credits include This Is Us, Smallville and The L Word.
Wayans is represented by CAA and Brecheen Feldman Breimer; Grier by TalentWorks and Brecheen, Feldman, Breimer.