Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

Bianca Ryan, Winner of America's Got Talent, to Star in Feature Film "We Be Kings"

By StudentFilmmakers.com
posted Feb 6, 2012, 16:30

(Staten Island, NY) -- Bianca Ryan, the singer who won America's Got Talent and took the country by storm at age 11, is set to star in the feature film "We Be Kings" alongside Magic Slim, the legendary Chicago bluesman.

Bianca is 17 now, and attending an arts school in Philadelphia. Magic Slim, who is 74, lost a finger in a Mississippi delta cotton gin when he was 13 years old and promptly quit the piano and took up the guitar, and is now widely recognized as one of the last of the great Chicago bluesmen alongside Buddy Guy and B. B. King.

Also starring in the film is guitarist and singer Quinn Sullivan, who at 12 years old is touring the country and opening for bluesman Buddy Guy. Sullivan is already being compared to legends Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn, displaying a level of virtuosity at the guitar rarely seen. That a twelve year old is opening for Buddy Guy is unprecedented.

Other supporting cast will be Pryce Watkins, a popular 13 year old Atlanta rapper, and Grana Louise, a Chicago blues-singing institution.

The film is being financed via the Kickstarter.com crowd source financing site, where fans have the options to back the film for various reward levels. Kickstarter is a fascinating story in itself, a site artists of all persuasion have discovered and organized backing for projects like films, board games, recording sessions, even inventions such as the "smelly robot". The Kickstarter link for project background is http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/search?utf8=&term=We+Be+Kings. For as little as $1, fans can "back" the project and artist of their choice and join an exclusive community that receives project updates, newsletters, and live video streams of the project as it unfolds.

The movie story tells the saga of I Be King, to be played by Magic Slim, who is rescued from near death in a snowstorm by two runaways, to be played by Bianca Ryan and Quinn Sullivan. The twist to the story is that I Be King is haunted, in a good way, by the angel of his deceased wife, Lilly. As payback for saving his life the teenagers demand I Be King take them south to his juke joint in Moon, Mississippi, Lilly's Lounge and Disco. The ghost of LIlly will subtly guide these three lost souls down a treacherous Rt. 61 to their rendezvous with destiny at Lilly's Lounge.

We Be Kings will be shot on location in Chicago, Illinois, and on Rt. 61 and points south along the Mississippi River.

The film will feature blues standards that Magic Slim has performed for years, as well as original songs by Bianca Ryan, Quinn Sullivan, and Pryce Watkins.





Resources:

www.biancaryan.com