Jessica Williams Film ‘The Incredible Jessica James’ To Close Sundance 2017

Image courtesy of Sundance

The 2017 Sundance Film Festival has been steadily releasing films a part of its lineup, and now comes the announcement that a movie Jessica Williams is headlining in will close out the event.

The former Daily Show senior correspondent will star in The Incredible Jessica James, a film that follows the titular character as she struggles over a recent breakup while trying to make it as a playwright in New York City.

Alongside Williams, the cast includes Atlanta star Lakeith Stanfield (as Jessica’s ex-boyfriend); Chris O’Dowd (as Boone, a recently divorced man that takes a liking to Jessica) and Noël Wells (as Jessica’s best friend and confidante). Williams also serves as an executive producer for the film.

In a statement about Jessica James, the movie’s director Jim Strouse said he made the lead role of the forthcoming film with Williams in mind, after she appeared in his other film People Places Things.

“While I was in the edit room for People Places Things, I kept telling people that I can’t wait till she stars in her own movie,” Strouse said. “I just decided to get a jump on it and wrote one for her. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be making it with Jessica and the rest of this incredible cast which came together around her.”

Along with Jessica James serving as Williams’ first lead role in film, the actress is also spearheading her own half hour scripted series for Comedy Central. Williams will write, produce and star in the pilot for the show, which will center on “a politically-minded young woman who may be ‘woke’ but doesn’t know what she’s doing,” according to an official description.

Sundance 2017 looks like it will be promising. Aside from Jessica James, the annual film festival will also be showing Flying Lotus‘ first full length film Kuso, as well as films on Winnie Mandela and Roxanne Shanté.