--- description: The movie will be directed by RZA. title: Azealia Banks Will Make Her Film Debut as the Star of 'Coco' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte720ca85a0e5d526/698851c5cd684864ab0a00cb/azealia-banks.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Azealia Banks to Make Film Debut as Star of _Coco_ by [Will Robinson/EW](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Will Robinson/EW Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 27, 2015 12:56 PM CUT  Azealia Banks performs in concert at Irving Plaza on May 11, 2015, in New York. Azealia Banks performs in concert at Irving Plaza on May 11, 2015, in New York.Robert Altman—Invision/AP by [Will Robinson/EW](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Will Robinson/EW Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 27, 2015 12:56 PM CUT Azealia Banks is ready for her first, [non-black-and-white-YouTube close-up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jv9fNPjgk "undefined"). The hip-hop artist has been cast as the titular lead character in _Coco_, an upcoming film directed by Renaissance man and Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA, _EW_ confirmed. The Lionsgate project also added Common, Jill Scott, Lucien Laviscount, and Hana Mae Lee to the movie. Coco (Banks) is an up-and-coming artist whose imminent record deal falls apart. Upon heading back to college, she digs into a previously undiscovered love: slam poetry. Maybe it’ll align with the release of Banks’ second major-label record, slated for [a 2016 release](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/13/azealia-banks-new-album-business-pleasure-2016 "undefined"). RZA has one directorial credit to date: _The Man with the Iron Fists_. He directs Nicole Asher’s screenplay for _Coco_. Paul Hall will serve as producer. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/26/azealia-banks-make-feature-film-debut-rzas-coco "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3897588/azealia-banks-coco/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3897588/azealia-banks-coco/"},"headline":"Azealia Banks to Make Film Debut as Star of Coco","datePublished":"2015-05-27T12:56:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:39:13.500Z","description":"The movie will be directed by RZA","url":"https://time.com/3897588/azealia-banks-coco/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte720ca85a0e5d526/698851c5cd684864ab0a00cb/azealia-banks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Robinson/EW"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte720ca85a0e5d526/698851c5cd684864ab0a00cb/azealia-banks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Azealia Banks performs in concert at Irving Plaza on May 11, 2015, in New York.","caption":"Azealia Banks performs in concert at Irving Plaza on May 11, 2015, in New York.","creditText":"Robert Altman—Invision/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3897588/azealia-banks-coco/","name":"Azealia Banks to Make Film Debut as Star of Coco"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"33 Iconic Beyonce Instagrams In 30 Seconds","description":"33 Iconic Beyonce Instagrams In 30 Seconds","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/UjflRACy/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-04T18:38:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UjflRACy.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3897588/azealia-banks-coco/","duration":"PT40S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3897588/azealia-banks-coco/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```