Fans Manage To Will A Lupita Nyong'o-Rihanna Buddy Movie Into Existence

Enlarge this image toggle caption Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

A Tumblr post. A tweet. A Netflix deal.

It's not the normal Hollywood production pipeline, but it's real: The people of the Internet have managed, through determination and enthusiasm, to bring a movie project into being — one written, directed by and starring black women.

This is a short story, so we'll get right to it. Here's the Tumblr post, featuring actress Lupita N'yongo and singer Rihanna, both fashion icons in their own right, looking fabulous at a Miu Miu show in 2014.

The post went viral. The world was unchanged.

Two years later, same photo, similar idea (arrived at independently, according to the two women).

But it was on a different platform, Twitter. And it was going viral in a different Internet community — Black Twitter, a creative and cultural powerhouse.

This time, something ... happened. Nyong'o was game.

Rihanna was, too.

Then Twitter users called out the names of their dream director and dream writer for this dream project ... and Ava DuVernay and Issa Rae spoke back.

Now it's no dream. The final chapter in the saga comes from Entertainment Weekly:

"After a dramatic negotiation session at the Cannes Film Festival, Netflix has nabbed a film project pairing Grammy winner Rihanna with Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, in a concept that began as a Twitter sensation. Ava DuVernay (Selma) will direct, and Issa Rae (Insecure) is writing the screenplay."

After EW broke the story, Rae's representatives confirmed the project's existence to Vanity Fair.

The original concept creators will be credited in the film, Vanity Fair reports.