SUPERFLY (2018) Cast & Crew

Director X, and Cast Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Michael Kenneth Williams, Lex Scott Davis

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CAST & CREW

Julien Lutz, better known by his pseudonym DIRECTOR X (Director), is an award-winning filmmaker and video artist whose distinctive, heightened visuals and unique concept-driven pieces have helped truly define the look of a generation hip-hop and youth culture reflecting dance, fashion and lifestyle from street to superstar.

Additionally, Director X's first television series, "Mister Tachyon," will be premiering on July 11, 2018 on Viceland. The show, in which Director X serves as creator and director, is an untraditional science program which follows a scientist who accidentally renders himself invisible and must seek out various methods of fringe science to try to reverse his situation.

Over his two-decade career, Director X has crafted some of the most iconic, boundary-pushing, high-budget music videos for artists such as Usher, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, David Guetta, Drake, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. His work includes the videos for Drake's "Hotline Bling," Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend," Usher's "Caught Up," Nelly's "Hot in Herre," Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous," Sean Paul's "Get Busy," Ludacris' "Pimpin' All Over the World," and Kendrick Lamar's "King Kunta," among others.

On the feature side, he directed the Canadian drama Across the Line, which won the Best Feature Film as the 2015 Atlantic Film Festival for its portrayal of racial tensions in Canada, and the TV movie "Center Stage: On Pointe." He has also directed various commercials for such brands like GAP, Virginia Black, McDonald's, Ikea, Alexander Wang, Nintendo, Bacardi, Guinness, and eBay. A creative polymath who is able to traverse several mediums, Director X also recently served as the principal artist at the Toronto 2016 Nuit Blanch where he debuted his city stopping installation, "Death of the Sun," which went on to become a massive hit on Drake's 2017 European tour.

Lutz was born on in Toronto, Canada to Swiss and Trinidadian parents. As a teenager, he moved to New York City to become a filmmaker and became the protege of pioneering hip-hop music video director Hype Williams. Overall, Director X's body of work has been nominated and awarded by the MTV Music Video Awards, D&AD Global Awards, Much Music Video Awards, and many more.

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Indiana-bred TREVOR JACKSON (Youngblood Priest) is the definition of a triple threat. At only 21 years old, he has already made a name for himself as a successful singer/songwriter, dancer, and actor who believes in taking his career into his own hands.

Trevor stars as Aaron Jackson on Freeform's "Black-ish" spinoff "Grown-ish." The series was the best comedy launch Freeform has had in the past five and a half years, and he will soon begin production on the second season. He portrays a socially conscious sophomore who quickly attracts the attention of Yara Shahidi's Zoey Johnson on campus as she embarks on her new college journey. The hit cast also includes Chloe and Halle, Francia Raisa, Jordan Buhat and Chris Parnell. The show has been nominated in the "Best Show" category for the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards.

Jackson's first steps into showbiz began with a three-year stint as Young Simba in Disney's Tony Award-winning Broadway National tour of "The Lion King." Following that success, he made his transition to television appearing on shows such as the SyFy original series "Eureka," CBS' "Criminal Minds," Disney Channel's blockbuster hit "Let It Shine," as well as "Harry's Law" for which he received the 2012 Young Artists Award in the category of Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actor 14-17.

Previously on the small screen, he was a series-regular on the second season of John Ridley's ABC drama series "American Crime," alongside Andre (3000) Benjamin and Regina King. The show earned numerous Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. In 2017, Trevor starred as Zurich Condoll in the Netflix original film Burning Sands along with Alfre Woodard, Trevante Rhodes, Serayah and more. The film made its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

In 2016, Jackson released his most personal mixtape, "In My Feelings" [Atlantic Records], which he co-wrote with his older brother, Ian. The project garnered over 1.8 million streams combined on SoundCloud & YouTube.

In 2013, Jackson jump-started his solo career by releasing his debut EP, "#NEWTHANG" [Atlantic Records], which delivered fan favorite tracks such as "Drop It" (Remix) [feat. B.o.B], "Know Your Name" [feat. Sage the Gemini], "Like We Grown," and "Me Likey" [feat. Kirko Bangz]. The videos for these hits alone garnered over 11 million views combined.

Named as one of Ebony's 25 Young Guns of Black Hollywood, Jackson has several major projects slated for this year, and recently released his highly anticipated new album, "Rough Drafts Pt. 1."

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Over only the last five years, JASON MITCHELL (Eddie) has steadily been building a reputation as an actor on the rise.

Mitchell has achieved critical acclaim for his role portraying the iconic Eazy E in Universal's 2015 N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton, directed by F Gary Gray. Starring opposite Paul Giamatti, Mitchell beat out competition from around the country for this coveted role. Mitchell won the African American Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor as well as sharing nominations with his fellow cast mates for Best Ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as the Critics Choice Awards. He also received Variety and San Diego International Film Festival's Rising Star Award in September 2016 for his work in film.

Most recently, Mitchell appeared in Dee Rees's Mudbound, the sensational World War II period drama which received overwhelming praise at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was quickly picked up by Netflix for distribution. In summer 2017, Mitchell was in the Kathryn Bigelow directed Detroit released by Annapurna Pictures. Mitchell also recently starred in the box office hit Kong: Skull Island alongside his Compton co-star Corey Hawkins, directed by Jordan Voigt Roberts.

Mitchell can now be seen in his first-ever TV role as a series regular in Showtime's "The Chi," directed by Emmy winner Lena Waithe, which premiered in January and has been renewed for a second season at Showtime. The timely and distinctive coming-of-age story follows a half-dozen interrelated characters in the South Side of Chicago.

Mitchell will next be seen in Mustang, which tells the story of Roman Coleman, a violent convict who is given the chance to participate in a rehabilitation program involving the training of wild mustangs. The film is directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre and stars Matthias Schoenaerts and Bruce Dern.

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LEX SCOTT DAVIS (Georgia) made her television acting debut starring as the legendary singer Toni Braxton in the Lifetime movie Unbreak my Heart, which was met with record breaking viewership for Lifetime Television and an outpouring of love from Braxton's longtime fans.

Davis also starred in the television adaptation of Antoine Fuqua's "Training Day" opposite Bill Paxton and newcomer Justin Cornwell for CBS. She will next be seen as the female lead in the action-horror film The Purge: The Island, which will be released later this year.

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MICHAEL KENNETH WILLIAMS (Scatter) is one of this generation's most respected and acclaimed actors. By bringing complicated and charismatic characters to life-often with surprising tenderness-Williams has established himself as a gifted and versatile performer with a unique ability to mesmerize audiences with his stunning character portrayals.

Williams is best known for his remarkable work on "The Wire," which ran for five seasons on HBO. The wit and humor that Williams brought to Omar, the whistle-happy, profanity-averse, drug dealer-robbing stickup man, earned him high praise and made Omar one of television's most memorable characters.

Williams co-starred in HBO's critically acclaimed series "Boardwalk Empire" in which he played Chalky White, a 1920s bootlegger and the impeccably suited, veritable mayor of Atlantic City's African-American community. In 2012, Boardwalk Empire won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Most recently, Williams earned his second Emmy nomination Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role as Freddy Knight in HBO's "The Night Of." He also previously received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie for his role as Jack Gee in HBO's "Bessie."

Previous TV credits include Sundance Channel's "Hap and Leonard," the ABC limited series "When We Rise" from Dustin Lance Black and Gus Van Sant and the IFC comedy mini-series "The Spoils Before Dying."

His upcoming projects include Gideon Raff's Red Sea Diving Resort and Warner Bros' thriller Motherless Brooklyn.

Williams made his feature film debut in the urban drama Bullet after being discovered by the late Tupac Shakur. Previous feature film credits include Ghostbusters, Assassin's Creed, Bringing Out the Dead, 12 Years A Slave, The Road, Gone Baby Gone, Life During Wartime, Brooklyn's Finest, Wonderful World, Snitch, Robocop, The Purge: Anarchy, Captive, Kill The Messenger, Inherent Vice, Triple 9, The Gambler and The Land.

Giving back to the community plays an important role in Williams' off-camera life. He is working to launch Making Kids Win, a charitable organization whose primary objective is to build community centers in urban neighborhoods that are in need of safe spaces for children to learn and play. Williams currently serves as the ACLUs ambassador of Smart Justice.

Williams also served as the investigative journalist and Executive Producer for Black Market, a documentary program that exposes and comments on illegal markets throughout the world with a focus on the people involved and connecting with them on a human level. Black Market is a flagship show for the newly launched network from Vice, VICELAND.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Williams began his career as a performer by dancing professionally at age 22. After numerous appearances in music videos and as a background dancer on concert tours for Madonna and George Michael, Williams decided to seriously pursue acting. He participated in several productions of the La MaMA Experimental Theatre, the prestigious National Black Theatre Company and the Theater for a New Generation directed by Mel Williams.

Michael Kenneth Williams resides in Brooklyn, New York.

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