Just when you thought 2019 was already headed for the worst, Marsai Martin arrived with the first trailer for her movie Little, and it will definitely make your day—nay your week—brighter. Check out the full trailer for the Black-ish actress above.
The body-swapping comedy features Regina Hall as Jordan Sanders, an overbearing and heinous boss making her employees, including Issa Rae, miserable. When Hall gets a spell cast upon her by a young teen, she wakes up the next morning as a 13-year-old version of herself in Martin’s body.
In order to avoid further disarray, Rae (who plays an assistant named April) must pretend to be Sanders’ guardian until they can get her body returned to normal. The trailer focuses heavily on Martin and Rae’s relationship, with hilarious scenes of Rae spanking the teen in a parking lot, and other heartfelt moments that emphasize their relationship with each other as young black women.
The comedy brings to mind movies like Freaky Friday or Big, the latter of which actually inspired Martin’s story. The actress not only thought of the script idea, but is an executive producer—at 14! Little was also produced by Hall and Black-ish creator Kenya Barris. Tina Gordon is directing from a script she co-wrote with Tracy Oliver, who also wrote Girls Trip. It's Gordon's second outing as a director following 2013's Peeples; she also co-wrote Drumline and the upcoming Taraji P. Henson-starringWhat Women Want reboot What Men Want.
In an interview with Essence, Martin opened up about how working with Barris helped her build the confidence to put Little in motion. “You don’t really see a 14-year-old girl creating her own stuff and actually making it into theater. That’s why you have to start working with people that will trust you and will believe that you can do it and will trust that you can carry…such a big responsibility," she told the magazine. “Kenya said I have the freedom to do whatever I want. At that time I was nervous to say what I meant or say what was on my mind. Everything was kept in, but when he said that it was very relieving—and that’s when I took the journey to make this a thing.”
Little opens in theaters on April 12.
