Dear Movie Lovers,

Los Angeles has always been one of cinema’s great characters: glamorous and ruthless in Sunset Boulevard, haunted and corrupt in Chinatown, hungry and electric in Boogie Nights. Misty Green enters that tradition from a different angle.

Misty Green is a drama. Yes, I, Chris Rock, made a drama. Don’t worry, it’s got some humor in it. But in the words of my favorite rapper, Rakim: “I ain’t no joke.”

Misty is a gifted actress trying to get another chance. We’re told that talent and hard work will get us there, but sometimes talent isn’t enough, especially in a city where wealth and poverty exist side by side.

That is what Misty is up against: not a lack of talent, but a system that asks her to prove her worth again and again.

Rosalind Eleazar gives Misty the depth, dignity, and contradictions that make those questions matter. Her performance is the heart of this film. Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick, and Topher Grace bring extraordinary humanity to the world around her. I’m grateful to every one of them.

A24 has made a home for films with something to say and the freedom to say it in their own way. I’m proud that Misty Green is among them.

But a film like this is meant to be experienced in a theater. There is something thrilling about sitting in the dark with a room full of strangers. You hear the laughter around you, feel the silence settle, and recognize that, for a couple of hours, everyone is looking in the same direction. That shared experience is part of what makes movies matter.

Movies can’t fix a city or erase the lines that divide the people living in it. But in a theater, they can make us pause before we look away. They can remind us that no one should have to audition for the right to be seen. I hope Misty Green stays with you, not because Misty’s story is easy, but because it asks us to believe that her life, her talent, and her future were worth seeing all along.

So please see it on the biggest screen you can find, with an audience around you. Let the lights go down, let the city disappear for a while, and let Misty’s story meet you there.

Thank you for watching, for looking closer, and for keeping the theater alive.

With gratitude,
Chris Rock