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RAYE set for acting debut in Yann Demange’s London crime thriller Lineage
RAYE is set for her first acting role in Yann Demange’s Lineage, a London crime thriller also starring Isabelle Huppert.
RAYE is stepping into film for the first time, joining Yann Demange’s forthcoming crime thriller Lineage. It’s a notable next move for the South London artist, who has already had a brief screen appearance as herself in Netflix’s Black Rabbit, the Jason Bateman and Jude Law drama. This time, though, the role comes in a proper feature rather than a cameo folded around her public persona.
Written by Enda Walsh, whose credits include Steve McQueen’s Hunger, the film has been developed by Walsh and Demange over the past two years. Demange, best known for Top Boy, based Lineage on a story of his own, and set it in modern-day London. The plot centres on Tariq, a father trying to rebuild his life after prison before his brother pulls him back into the criminal underworld.
RAYE joins a cast that also includes Isabelle Huppert, Dali Benssalah and Adam Bessa. Production is due to begin in London in early August. Her role has not been disclosed, which leaves the casting to do most of the work for now: a pop star whose recent run has been defined by control, scale and ambition, now entering a crime film grounded in the city she comes from.
Demange described the project to Variety as “a homecoming for me in many ways,” and said the film will include “characters I know very well… including a crime boss matriarch.” He added that it is “my love letter to the London I grew up in and love,” stressing that he wants the film to both “honor and deliver on the crime genre in an exciting and fresh way” while also exploring “the complications of family and the possibility of transcending one’s beginnings.”
The casting lands in the middle of another busy chapter for RAYE. She recently released her second album, This Music May Contain Hope, following her 2023 debut My 21st Century Blues. In a five-star review, NME called the record “showstopping musical maximalism at its grandest,” while noting that it still stayed anchored in “relatable experiences and unbridled emotions.” The review also framed the album as proof that she is “finally making music for herself.”
She is currently on a US tour and will return to the UK later this year for a run that includes two nights at The O2 in London and headline slots at Reading & Leeds. Tour dates and remaining tickets are available here.
