Rebecca Hall to Make Her Directorial Debut with Adaptation of Harlem Renaissance Novel Passing

Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

Read our announcement | See the 10 Best Games of 2025 (So Far)

Actress Rebecca Hall is taking her talents behind the camera to make her directorial debut with Passing, an adaptation of the 1929 best-selling novel. Nella Larsen’s Harlem Renaissance novel explores the phenomenon of racial “passing,” a term classifying a person of one racial demographic who is accepted by another.

The film will encompass provocative themes surrounding race and gender, and to honor Larsen’s legacy, Hall has recruited a team of kick-ass women. Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga will star in the lead roles, with Margot Hand of Picture Films producing and Angela Robinson executive producing. Hall also wrote the script for the movie.

Passing is the story of two reunited high school friends who become obsessed with each other’s lives, threatening their carefully planned-out realities. Negga stars as Clare Kendry, who attempts to pass as a white woman, with Thompson as Irene Redfield.

In a statement to Deadline, Hall explained her own personal ties to the story:

I came across the novel at a time when I was trying to reckon creatively with some of my personal family history, and the mystery surrounding my biracial grandfather on my American mother’s side. In part, making this film is an exploration of that history, to which I’ve never really had access.