EXCLUSIVE: Native Hawaiian screenwriter Bryson Chun (Moana 2) has been tapped to pen the script for The First & Lasta forthcoming live-action musical feature from Tony nominee and GLAAD Award winner Tara Sickmeier’s independent production company, Meráki.
Inspired by true events, the story is set against the backdrop of the organized coup d’état led by Sanford B. Dole to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawai’i in 1893. The historical musical drama follows Queen Lili’uokalani as she fights to protect her homeland, haunted by ill-fated premonitions spoken to her from her late brother’s spirit, King Kalākaua.
Native Hawaiian filmmaker Jennifer Akana Sturla — a Sundance Native Program Fellow with an MFA in Film Production from USC who teaches Story at Chapman University — will produce alongside Sickmeier (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812).
Sickmeier told us, “The story of Queen Liliʻuokalani is one of courage, righteousness, music, and spirit. It’s time her truth is told by those who know it best, the Native Hawaiians. Meráki’s mission is to create from a place of authenticity, and we’re honored to collaborate with Bryson and our entire creative team to reclaim a chapter in history and present it through its rightful lens.”
Chun added, “Writing a film about Queen Lili’uokalani is an opportunity to help reclaim her story, not as a relic of the past, but as a living reminder of Hawaiian sovereignty and resilience. Her struggles and her strength are just as relevant to us today as they were to her people in her time.”
Bryson Chun, a 2021 CAPE Fellow who also took part in the 2016 Sundance Native Shorts Lab, with additional recognition from the Black List and the inaugural Indigenous List, is an emerging writer who most recently worked on Disney Animation’s Moana 2. He’s also written on the show Doogie Kamealoha, MD and is rapped by Verve.
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