All Of Black Hollywood Showed Out For HBO’s Between The World And Me

In 2015, Ta-Nehesi Coates published his second book, Between the World and Me. The stunning nonfiction work was written as a letter to his teenage son, describing the terrifying reality of being Black in the United States. Darkly poignant and perpetually pertinent, Between the World and Me went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed books of 2015; it was a New York Times bestseller, a National Book Award winner, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Five years later, the stirring subject matter of Coates' book is still relevant, so HBO is bringing it back to the collective consciousness — this time in movie form. The network has collaborated with the award-winning author to bring his story back to center stage and to its streaming platform, and the cultural impact of the original project has also attracted a number of high-profile celebrities to its screen adaptation. From Oscar-winners to passionate activists, some of Black Hollywood's most prominent names have signed on to appear in the movie.

As awareness and critique of anti-Blackness increase across the globe, more and more discourse is being had about the pervasiveness of racism. Between the World and Me was at the core of that discourse years ago, and its HBO adaptation will continue that dialogue. These are are some of the faces leading the conversation through the film.