One of the ways to make it big in Hollywood is to have cool, well-connected friends (just ask Greg Grunberg), and it looks like Chance The Rapper is the latest to take advantage of that by parlaying his personal friendship with Cookie Monster into a potential role in the big-screen Sesame Street movie. This comes from Variety, which says Chance is “in negotiations” to join Anne Hathaway in the film, which is being directed by Portlandia’s Jonathan Krisel and—thanks to a new plot synopsis—we now know is about the Sesame Street characters somehow getting kicked out of their little universe and having to work with a “history show host” to prove that Sesame Street is a real place. That’s still sounds weird and confusing, but it does establish the possibility for a scene where Elmo and Big Bird walk through the streets of modern, post-Giuliani New York and wonder why everything is so soulless and sanitized compared to the gritty and real streets they’re used to. (It’s an inverse of the “cartoon character is surprised by how grim the real world is” trope!)
Anyway, Chance last worked with his pal Cookie Monster at the beginning of 2019, learning about the letter T with Elmo. Also, how many movies will Chance have to do before he either becomes Chance The Actor or just drops “The Rapper” from his name entirely and goes by Chance all the time? It’s a lazy joke, but he’s gotta be thinking about this important branding opportunity!