Nia Long Joins Teyana Taylor's Directorial Debut 'Get Lite' With Storm Reid and Leslie Odom Jr.
Teyana Taylor's first feature as a director keeps getting stronger on paper. Nia Long has joined the cast of Get Lite, Taylor's feature directorial debut at Paramount, which is now filming in New York City. Variety first reported the casting.
A love letter to Harlem's dance culture
Get Lite takes its name from Litefeet, the street dance style born in Harlem in the early 2000s. Built on quick, buoyant footwork and hat and shoe tricks, it's the dance New Yorkers know from subway "Showtime" performances.
In the film, Ceyair Wright plays a talented but sheltered dance student who finds inspiration, love and a sense of family in the New York City subway system. Storm Reid plays the young woman who opens his world to new possibilities.
A stacked cast
Long joins a cast that already reads like a who's who of Black Hollywood across generations:
Storm Reid
Ceyair Wright
Nia Long
Leslie Odom Jr.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
Jodie Turner-Smith
Asante Blackk
Woody McClain
Tylil James
Khayr Bullock
Long's character hasn't been revealed. The film reunites her with Reid, her co-star in the 2023 thriller Missing. It's also another big-screen turn for Long after playing Katherine Jackson in Michael, and it comes a month after she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Behind the camera
Maurice Williams wrote the screenplay, based on an original script by Eric Gross that landed on the 2020 Black List. Reid produces through her company A Seed & Wings Productions with Robyn Simpson, alongside Kenya Barris and Anni Weisband of Khalabo Ink Society and Bill Karesh of Offbrnd. Taylor co-produces with Courtney "Coco" Gilbert through their company, The Aunties.
The project has been in development at Paramount since 2024, with Reid attached from the start.
Teyana Taylor behind the lens
Taylor has spent years building toward this, directing music videos and shaping her visual storytelling across music, dance and performance. A film rooted in New York dance culture is a natural first feature for an artist whose career started on the dance floor.
Paramount opens Get Lite in theaters on Aug. 20, 2027.
