Janelle Monae brings WondaLunch food program to Los Angeles and reveals she would love to play Storm
Janelle Monáe brought her WondaLunch food giveaway Tuesday to Los Angeles to provide meals to people hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The 34-year-old actress in a new interview with Empire magazine also revealed that she would love to play comic book character Storm in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Janelle told the magazine that she was working on her latest album Dirty Computer in Atlanta when director Ryan Coogler, 34, was shooting the hit Marvel movie Black Panther there.
Free lunch: Janelle Monáe brought her #WondaLunch food giveaway Tuesday to the Watts area of Los Angeles to provide meals to people hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic
Black Panther cast members Lupita Nyong’o, Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan visited her Wondaland studio in Atlanta and Janelle was asked if she spoke to Ryan about joining the upcoming sequel.
‘I definitely have thrown it out there,’ she said. ‘One of my dreams has always been to play Storm. I don’t know if she comes in Black Panther, but it would be a dream to have her in it. I don’t know where they are with that. A lot of women have played Storm and they’ve done an exceptional job, and I would love to be in that line of artists and get to do Storm justice.’
Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, 53, played Storm in the 2000 film X-Men and reprised the role in the sequels X2 in 2003, X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006 and the 2014 film X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
Storm and Black Panther in the pages of Mavel Comics were childhood sweethearts who later married and then divorced.
Storm character: The 34-year-old actress told Empire magazine that she would love to play Storm, shown on a Marvel Comics cover
Fresh food: Janelle wore a black-and-white outfit while giving away food in Watts including a round-brimmed hat
On her: The actress started her WondaLunch effort in April in Atlanta
Drive through: Janelle handed bags of fresh produce and poultry to people as they drove past
Loading up: The singer and actress also loaded food into the back of a vehicle
The full interview with Janelle will be in the Big-Screen preview issue of Empire on sale Thursday.
Janelle in the interview also spoke on the rise of Afrofuturism in the mainstream and her first leading role in the upcoming horror movie Antebellum.
Antebellum is scheduled for release on August 21 after its original release date in April was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Team effort: Volunteers assisted Janelle during the drive-thru giveaway
Mask on: Janelle wore a white face mask amid the coronavirus pandemic
Teaming up: The actress teamed up with Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán to provide food to the needy
Helping hands: Angela Rye, Janelle, Maxine and Nanette walked down the street with food
Peace sign: Janelle flashed the peace sign while walking with Angela, Maxine and Nanette
Janelle launched her WondaLunch food give-away in April in Atlanta and brought it to Southern California in May with meals given to the needy in Inglewood.
She helped hand out 2,000 prepared meals Tuesday at Ted Watkins Park in the Watts area of Los Angeles in partnership with Democratic US Representative Maxine Waters, actress Yara Shahidi and attorney Angela Rye.
The nonprofit Wasserman Foundation, Project Isaiah, Social Justice Learning Institute, and The Leela Project helped provide the meals along with Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino and radio station The Real 92.3 FM.
Weather control: Halle Berry is shown as weather controller Storm in a still from the 2000 superhero film X-Men