Mattel Developing 'Uno' Movie With Rapper Lil Yachty Potentially Starring
The day isn't over yet, but I can't imagine there being a more Mad Libs-style headline to come out of the entertainment news world than this one.
Mattel Films will team up with rapper Lil Yachty to produce an Uno movie based on the classic card game, with Yachty also "eyeing a starring role" in the film. And naturally, as anyone who has ever played Uno should clearly already know, the movie will be set in the underground hip-hop scene in Atlanta, Georgia. Of course. Makes total sense.
Deadline reports that Grammy-nominated rapper Lil Yachty will be producing the Uno movie alongside Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Pierre "P" Thomas, and Brian Sher. Robbie Brenner (A Perfect Getaway) will executive produce.
Marcy Kelly, a writer with no credits to her name yet, is writing the screenplay, which is a live-action heist comedy "set in the underground hip hop world of Atlanta." How exactly this pitch has anything at all to do with the beloved, family-friendly card game – which involves cards with colors, numbers, or instructions like "Skip," "Reverse," "Wild", or "Draw Four" on them – remains to be seen.
"I'm so excited to be part of this film with Mattel," Lil Yachty said in a statement. "I played Uno as a kid and still do today, so to spin that into a movie based on the Atlanta hip hop scene I came out of is really special. It hits close to home for me."
Again, super confused about how color-coded cards will be mixed into a heist with the underground music scene as a backdrop. Will we see a rap battle dictated by the whims of a random deck of cards, with a moderator dictating the battles by "reversing" the order mid-stream, allowing rappers to go "wild" with form, and penalizing people with "draw four" cards, which maybe force the performer to select four key phrases which must be included in their next volley? I'm just spitballing here, because I have absolutely no clue how this is going to work.
As for Yachty, he's previously lent his voice to the character of Green Lantern in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, played "The Beatboxer" in Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve, appeared as himself in Longshot, and starred opposite DJ Young Fly in 2019's How High 2.
Deadline says Mattel Films has several other movies in the works, including ones based on American Girl, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Magic 8 Ball, Major Matt Mason, Masters of the Universe, Thomas & Friends, View Master, and Wishbone.