Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Set For Indie Drama ‘Liz Here Now’

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (King Richard) and Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight franchise) have wrapped on Liz Here Now, a new indie drama from director Sterling Macer Jr.

Shot in Lexington, KY, the film is based on the novel of the same name by Todd Connor. The story follows Liz Baxter (Ellis-Taylor), who works as a nanny for a prominent, white family in Oakland, California during the rise of the Black Panther Party in 1967. When Liz discovers that the Connor children are suffering under the hand of their mother, Jane (Lefevre), and attempts to step in to protect the children, she’s accused of participating in a Black Panther conspiracy.

In a statement on the project, Macer Jr. told Deadline, “Our approach to LIZ HERE NOW is a kind of deconstruction of the black maid’s story, and to a degree, bends the genre of the civil rights era domestic drama, borrowing some of its cinematic language from the world of suspense and even horror.”

Hailing from The Humble Picture Company and Clandestine Entertainment, the film is written by Macer Jr., Grant Nieporte (Seven Pounds) and Caleb G. Brown (Blue Ridge). Macer Jr., Nieporte and Zachary Weil (Dead Mail) served as producers, while Todd Connor, Jeremy Mann, Ellis-Taylor, and Bob Smiley (Atypical) exec produced.

Nominated for an Oscar for her work opposite Will Smith in sports drama King Richard, Ellis-Taylor will next be seen starring in RaMell Ross’s drama Nickel Boys, based on the novel by Colson Whitehead, which Amazon MGM releases in December. Other notable recent credits include The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, The Deliverance, Exhibiting Forgiveness, The Color Purple, and Origin. At present, she’s also coming off of roles in the series Justified: City Primeval, 61st Street, and Lovecraft Country.

Best known for starring in the Twilight films, Lefevre has also been seen in big-screen titles like White House Down and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, as well as Proven Innocent, Under the Dome, and other series.

Previously helming the indies Double Down and Park Day, Macer Jr. is also an actor who’s been seen in Where the Crawdads Sing, Fox’s Bones and more.

Ellis-Taylor is repped by UTA and TMT Entertainment Group; Lefevre by Gersh, Pearl Hanan Management, and Meyer & Downs; and Macer by AMT Artists, Koopman Management, and Del Shaw Moonves.