Lakeith Stanfield to Star in A24’s Notes From a Young Black Chef

Lakeith Stanfield has been tapped to lead A24’s forthcoming memoir adaptation, Notes From a Young Black Chef, per THR.

The film is an adaptation of Kwame Onwuachi’s memoir of the same name, which is co-written with Joshua David Stein, and recounts Onwuachi’s life up to his work in the culinary world.

Onwuachi grew up in the Bronx and his family moved him to Africa to escape a troubled youth. After childhood, Onwuachi found a chef job on a Deepwater Horizon cleanup ship, which led him to train in classic French cuisine at the Culinary Institute of America, as well as competing on Top Chef. As a chef, Onwuachi has cooked in highly regarded kitchens in New York such as Eleven Madison Park and Per Se. The memoir also dives into Onwuachi’s struggles with being a person of color in the culinary world, as well as his first restaurant closing only months after opening.

Recently, Stanfield starred in Netflix’s rom-com Someone Great and Fede Alvarez’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web with Claire Foy. The actor is set to star in the Rian Johnson-directed murder-mystery Knives Out, A24’s Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler, and Stella Meghie’s The Photograph. He will also star with fellow Get Out actor Daniel Kaluuya in Jesus Is My Homeboy, which details the life of Black Panther member Fred Hampton.

Stanfield will not only portray Onwuachi in Notes From a Young Black Chef, but will also executive produce the film. Randy McKinnon is adapting the script for the A24-financed project. Onwuachi will help produce the film alongside Stephen Love and Colin Stark. There’s no director attached to the project at the moment, though.