They Cloned Tyrone – (L to R) Teyonah Parris as Yo-Yo, Jamie Foxx as Slick Charles and John Boyega as Fontaine in They Cloned Tyrone. Cr. Parrish Lewis/Netflix © 2023.
They Cloned Tyrone is the upcoming Netflix sci-fi film starring John Boyega (Star Wars) and Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained). The film will be the directorial debut of Creed 2 writer Juel Taylor. Taylor penned the script for the film with Tony Rettenmaier (The Light Thief). Here’s everything you need to know about the movie scheduled to hit in July 2023.
The film is produced by Charles D. King, Poppy Hanks, and their production company Macro, which was also behind Netflix’s Raising Dion. Macro specializes in representing people of color in the film and TV industry. As described by its website, since its founding in 2015, the company has garnered nine Oscar nominations and one win with its numerous productions.
Before we dive into our preview, here’s the full official trailer for They Cloned Tyrone, which was released on June 13th, 2023:
When will They Cloned Tyrone be released on Netflix?
As part of the 2023 movie slate unveiling, Netflix confirmed that They Cloned Tyrone would be released globally on July 21st, 2023.
The news came alongside a new screen from the movie:
They Cloned Tyrone – Picture: Netflix
They Cloned Tyrone was originally planned to release in 2022 and was included in the original 2022 movie preview video.
Netflix then told us the movie had been pushed out of 2022 (likely then set to release in 2023 instead). However, the New York Times listed the movie for the end of December 2022, which didn’t happen.
What’s the plot of They Cloned Tyrone?
Here is the official description of the film:
“A pulpy, sci-fi mystery caper in which an unlikely trio investigates a series of eerie events, alerting them to a nefarious conspiracy lurking directly beneath their hood. Fontaine, a neighborhood drug dealer, is shot dead by rival Isaac and then is very shocked to wake up in his bed the next morning unharmed. He and Slick Charles and Yo-Yo begin looking into the incident, and their search eventually leads them to a vast underground complex where a government – backed lab is performing experiments on the local Black population. Realizing that he is an artificial clone controlled by Nixon, Fontaine initially feels despair, but decides he needs to stand up to these white institutional overlords for the sake of his neighborhood.”
Interestingly enough, the entire script for the film is up online, so if you’re interested, you can read it here.
The screenplay was part of The Black List 2019, a portal for filmmakers to share scripts and evaluate them. You can also read the detailed review of the script by Script Shadow here. According to them: “what’s unique about They Cloned Tyrone is that it mixes comedy and sci-fi but it’s also R-rated.”
In an interview with ComingSoon.net, John Boyega teased the movie as a “stateside version of Attack the Block” adding “It’s his [Juel Taylor’s] first feature, but there’s a reason why it attracted the likes of Jamie Foxx to his project. The script is phenomenal.”
Who is cast in They Cloned Tyrone?
Pictured: Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris and John Boyega
Leading the upcoming sci-fi film is John Boyega, known for his role as Finn in the latest Star Wars trilogy. Boyega plays Tyrone Fontaine, the neighborhood drug dealer mentioned in the synopsis above. Boyega told in an interview that he was very pleased to work on They Cloned Tyrone.
“This is me just going home for a bit. Like, this is stateside Attack the Block for me. I’m just more than excited to see a small little hood go through an alien experience. I’ve just come off of two kind of intense projects. Chase Palmer’s Naked Singularity…and then Steve McQueen’s Small Axe. So They Cloned Tyrone is just a chance for me to have fun… and chill.”
The other two leading cast members of the film are Oscar-winning Jamie Foxx, known for his roles in Ray, Django Unchained, Baby Driver, and more. Foxx plays Slick Charles, an acquaintance of Fontaine’s and a procurer of sex workers.
Lastly, Teyonah Parris will portray Yo-Yo, Charles’ top sex worker. Parris is known for her roles in Showtime’s Mad Men, Netflix’s Dear White People, and she’ll appear in the upcoming Candyman film and the Disney+ series WandaVision.
Picture: Netflix
Other cast members for the movie include:
- Tamberla Perry (APB, Boss)
- Eric Robinson Jr.
- Kiefer Sutherland (24, Designated Survivor)
- David Alan Grier (Joe Pickett)
- J. Alphonse Nicholson (Butterfly Boxing) as Issac
- Joshua Mikel (The Walking Dead) as DJ Strangelove
What’s the production status on They Cloned Tyrone?
Production for They Cloned Tyrone started on November 9, 2020 in Blackhall Studios, Atlanta. Filming is expected to span through winter and wrap on January 29. Production is also expected to take place in Cape Town, South Africa.
In mid-January 2021, DailyMail managed to scoop some early shots of the movie with their paps revealing the costumes and makeup the actors will be in.
Pictures: Daily Mail / BackGrid
Are you looking forward to They Cloned Tyrone on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.
Netflix Synopsis: "Students of color navigate the daily slights and slippery politics of life at an Ivy League college that's not nearly as post-racial as it thinks."
