Los Angeles is more than just the glitz and glamor, as Fabrice Du Welz’s most recent feature shows.
Message From the King, which will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday, tells the story of Jacob King, a South African man played by Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who travels to Los Angeles to avenge his younger sister’s death and gets pulled into the city’s seedy underbelly in the process.
King interacts with several mysterious characters throughout the film, including Teresa Palmer’s Kelly, a mother turning tricks to fund her drug habit and the care of her young daughter. In an exclusive clip for The Hollywood Reporter, Kelly warns King that L.A. isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“Everybody’s lookin‘ for something in this place,” she says in the clip. “You come here lookin‘ for the one thing in the world that you think is gonna make you happy. And then after a few years, all you wanna do is get the hell out.”
With a script by Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell, Message From the King also stars Luke Evans and Tom Felton. The Ink Factory’s Stephen Cornwell and Simon Cornwell produced alongside David Lancaster. WME is handling domestic sales while Sierra/Affinity reps international.
Watch the exclusive clip above.
