'Queen & Slim' actor Daniel Kaluuya reveals worst first date and plans for Barney film (exclusive)

Daniel Kaluuya has revealed how a disastrous first date inspired the frosty Tinder meet-up that begins crime drama Queen & Slim.

The film starts with Kaluuya’s character, Slim, on an awkward date with Jodie Turner-Smith’s Queen — and the actor has admitted it’s nothing compared to his own worst romantic encounter.

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“I may have got slapped on a date, a couple of times,” Kaluuya told Yahoo Movies UK, adding: “It wasn’t like she was angry with me. She was angry at herself”.

He said: “She would, like, kiss me then slap me, kiss me then slap me, kiss me then slap me. It was kinda wild. It was in an Uber, to Barking.

“Leave it there, we’ve got to keep it ambiguous.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kaluuya said there wasn’t a second date.

Queen & Slim follows the initial date with a tense roadside encounter between the couple and a racist police officer, which culminates in Slim shooting the cop in self-defence.

This sends the duo on the run as they are pursued by the authorities, while also becoming cult celebrities when footage of the incident goes viral.

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The film’s script was penned by Emmy-winning writer and actor Lena Waithe, with first-time feature filmmaker Melina Matsoukas in the director’s chair.

Queen & Slim was a success at the box office in the States and has already doubled its production budget, earning $44.5m (£34m) worldwide.

Kaluuya also gave Yahoo Movies UK an update on the film he is currently producing based around children’s TV character Barney the Dinosaur.

“It’s in the early, early stages,” Kaluuya said. “They said we can do what we want, so we’re gonna do what we want.”

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When the project was announced in October, it was described as a “completely new approach” that will “subvert expectations” around the character.

It seems clear that, whatever happens, this won’t be the same purple dinosaur we all watched as kids.

Queen & Slim is in UK cinemas from 31 January.