Zendaya snags deal to develop film asbout first Black grad of Vassar

Disney star Zendaya (“K.C. Undercover”) isn’t just waiting for her long career at Disney to end before she moves on… the multi-talented 21-year-old has taken on a project as an executive producer of “A White Lie,” a psychological thriller based on the first Black woman to graduate from the prestigious women’s college, Vassar. In a battle for the rights to the film, Sony won. Zendays will produce and star in the movie. According to Variety, the project is based on Karin Tanabe’s novel, “The Gilded Years.” Acrtress Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Levy Neustadter will produce the project with Zendaya. “The Gilded Years” told the true story of Anita Hemmings, a light-skinned, African-American woman who was the descendant of slaves and passed as white so she could attend Vassar during the 1890s. She’s pulled into the elite world, where she’s treated as a wealthy, educated white woman who finds romance with a moneyed Harvard student. “Monica, Zendaya, Lauren and Reese have developed a bold and original approach to Anita’s story that explores complex and timely themes in a way that is sure to thrill audiences,” said Hannah Minghella, president of TriStar Pictures. Zendaya starred opposite Tom Holland in Sony’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and as trapeze artist Anne Wheeler, with Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron, in Fox’s “The Greatest Showman.”