Back in February 2018, New Regency, the Hollywood production company behind The Revenant and Bohemian Rhapsody, took a meeting with Donald Glover, who has won Emmys as the creator of FX’s Atlanta and won Grammys as his musical alter ego, Childish Gambino. Glover didn’t have a script, but he did have an idea he’d been toying with and a month-long window in between his summer promotional duties for Solo: A Star Wars Story and his fall tour.
The New Regency suits said yes on the spot, and with good reason. While “This Is America,” Glover’s 2018 viral music video, wouldn’t splash down until May, he had at that point already amassed more cultural caché than some artists can muster in a lifetime—and he came with a proven track record for creating the kind of content (lyrical, funny, shocking, socially engaged, mysterious) that can capture the ever-more fickle attention spans of young viewers. It is, in a phrase, Rihanna-level clout, as certified by the pop star’s eventual casting as Glover’s love interest in the film.
Such influence also undeniably helped when Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, decided to plunk down a hefty chunk of the e-tailer’s change to distribute the film based on her watching a four-and-a-half minute sizzle reel via a one-time viewing link that expired 30 minutes after she received it. (Neither New Regency nor Amazon would discuss the size of their respective deals.)
“I would have committed to Donald sight unseen.” she said. “I knew whatever he wanted to amplify would have relevance and be entertaining. He has that ability to create cultural moments and spread a message that’s interesting.”
When Guava Island, the resulting music-driven, hour-long film shot largely in secret in Havana, has its premiere Thursday night on the Coachella campgrounds on the eve of the valley’s annual Music and Arts Festival, it will be many things: public unveiling, artist’s statement, and teaser for Glover’s headlining slot the next night. But it will also be the latest shot in the content wars, in which burgeoning platforms work to distinguish themselves from one another by curating cultural stunts designed to create their own Lemonade-sized, days-long moment. Thanks to the deals Glover and New Regency made with Amazon, the movie will go wide on Amazon Prime for free for 18 hours beginning at 12:01 A.M. P.T. on Saturday. It will also stream on Amazon’s Twitch platform, once at 5 P.M. P.T. on Saturday, while simulcast on Coachella’s YouTube Channel.
Inspired by Fernando Meirelles’s Brazilian crime drama City of God and Prince’s Purple Rain, the movie, written by Glover’s brother, Stephen, is a tropical thriller in which Glover’s local musician character is determined to throw a festival for his island community. In addition to Rihanna, the cast includes Letitia Wright, of Black Panther fame. Shooting in Cuba, which still lacks Wi-Fi in areas, allowed its team, including frequent Glover collaborator director Hiro Murai, to live that real-life communal experience in real time.
“There was a bootcamp everyone went through when they came in. You get to see what happens to your brain when you can’t Google every single question you have,” said Carmen Cuba, who produced the film alongside Glover and his frequent collaborator Fam Udeorji, in an interview Wednesday.
The setting also helped keep the production, nicknamed Dionysus, shrouded in secrecy. That’s how Glover and his team like to work. With the exception of a photo of the two leads that leaked out during production and the teaser trailer Glover revealed at his own music festival, the New Zealand-based Pharos, in November (uploaded online by a fan), the group was largely able to maintain anonymity, a goal they pursued in service of the production’s independence.
“We wanted to assure that we had as much creative freedom as possible,” said Cuba. “Everything about this project and Donald in general, in terms of his intentions for his life and his career, is to protect his freedom; freedom of expression and freedom of process.”
Which is why, she said, the team was drawn to New Regency as its producing and financing partner and to Amazon as its distribution partner, specifically the online retailer’s willingness to release the mini-movie in front of its paywall and via the Coachella livestream.
“The leaks helped build the breadcrumbs of the mystery. And looking back, it all worked in our favor. The news cycle is so fast, the interest cycle is so fast, that maintaining interest in something for so long is a hard thing to do,” said Cuba. “There is still a lot of stuff that fans don’t know that they will be surprised about and hopefully happy about.”
Of course, a little payoff on Amazon’s end wouldn’t hurt. “This may convert [viewers] to Prime subscriptions but more importantly, it’s something that is original and exciting and illustrates our commitment to creating a home for talent,” Salke said. If all goes as planned, all involved will have their ever-elusive moment.
