Daniel Craig, Jimmy Kimmel, Lupita Nyong'o and others appear in the clip for Brooklyn for Life!, which buys meals from neighborhood restaurants in the borough that are then delivered to front-line workers at nine hospitals and 10 EMS stations.
The Brooklyn for Life! Initiative co-founded by The Batman and Westworld actor Jeffrey Wright — which has raised more than $386,000 to deliver meals from local restaurants to front-line health care workers — is getting major support from a who's who of star Brooklynites.
Wright gathered together friends and backers of the relief effort to appear in a new two-and-a-half-minute video released today that includes Daniel Craig, Spike Lee, Ansel Elgort, Chris Rock, Jimmy Kimmel, Lupita Nyong’o, Rosie Perez, Mahershala Ali, Michelle Williams, Michael K. Williams, Erykah Badu, Big Daddy Kane, Meshell Ndegeocello, Maxwell, Harvey Keitel, Peter Dinklage, Carmen Ejogo, Taylor Schilling, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Paul Giamatti, John Turturro, Ethan Hawke, Steve Buscemi, Fisher Stevens, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Anthony Ramos, Annabella Sciorra, Wyatt Cenac and Debi Mazar.
Wright launched the effort as a GoFundMe drive on March 25 along with two restaurant-owner friends and a vice president of Brooklyn Hospital. Now registered as an official 501c3 nonprofit, Brooklyn for Life! buys meals from neighborhood restaurants in Brooklyn, which are then delivered to health care workers at nine hospitals and 10 EMS stations. As Wright told The Hollywood Reporter recently, "The health care workers and the first responders are having a tough time getting food because all the restaurants are not operating at 100 percent. And the restaurants need revenue, and they are so energized to be able to play a vital role. It's all community-based, grassroots, streamlined, efficient." The effort, operated in partnership with Brooklyn Borough president Eric Adams, has delivered more than 45,000 meals to date. Also appearing in the new video are pro basketball players Garrett Temple, Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Taj Gibson.
From the initial two restaurants — Graziella's Italian ("It's a place [where] I order pizzas and goat-cheese salad and lasagnas on the regular," says Wright) and Brooklyn Moon Café (where Badu gave her first New York City performance) — the operation has expanded to purchase meals from a rotating group of 42 establishments. Brooklyn for Life! is looking to expand its reach to help feed seniors at home and also at in-patient care facilities and hopes the new star-supported video will help it meet a $1 million fundraising goal.
"We started Brooklyn for Life! out of love for Brooklyn and out of solidarity with our neighbors," said Wright in a statement. "This is home. The hope is that Brooklyn emerges from this global pandemic as strong and as beautiful as she was before COVID, and our community is coming together to help make that happen. The video tries to celebrate that and express gratitude for those on the front lines of that effort."
