Issa Rae is bringing her talents to the stellar cast of the Netflix series Black Mirror, PEOPLE reports. The acclaimed producer/actress is set to appear in the season 7 episode “Hotel Reverie.”
In the highly-anticipated episode, Rae plays Brandy, a Hollywood star who anxious to break the box that’s she’s been placed in and what’s her Casablanca moment. When a producer named Kimmy (Awkwafina), convinces Judith (Harriet Walter) to remake a classic romantic movie from the studio, Hotel Reverie starring screen icon Dorothy (Emma Corrin), using highly immersive technology. Eventually, Brandy lands the lead and joins an AI world that’s a replica of the original movie. The catch is she “must stick to the script if she ever wants to make it home…”
According to Rae, she could relate to the role because of the current state of Hollywood.
“I related tremendously to it. It feels like Hollywood is at this weird standstill where it doesn’t know which direction to go and beyond what’s familiar territory,” Rae explained.
“So, in that way, it feels like it’s placing all of us as creatives in this box,” she continued.
When it comes to her character, “Brandy just wants to be outside of this box, desperately to take risks, to be seen, to be seen differently, to feel differently,” the Insecure star says. “She’s craving for excitement that she’s not getting in her real life, which obviously prompts her, to take this big risk.”
When asked if she had Casablanca or a dream project that she wanted to pursue, Rae says she’s in a position to make her vision come to fruition as a creator.
“I feel like it comes to mind, I would write it, you know? I would make it and that’s something that I’m constantly chasing in anything that I make,” Rae shared.
“But in terms of what I’m being cast in by others, there’s so many things, but I haven’t put my finger on it. It’s like, when you know, you’ll know,” she added, saying “there are a few things that excite me in the way that they might excite a Brandy.”
While her resume of full of successful TV shows and films, Rae expressed her gratitude for being a part of the series.
“Black Mirror has been so great about showcasing talent [and] then showing some of my favorites in just these situations that I didn’t imagine watching them in,” she said. “So, yeah, I felt no different for me. Like, I get to be in this world. I get to be in a new world. I get to play in a new genre that I haven’t before and do so many new things in this episode.”
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