The tale of Josephine Baker will be immortalized on the big screen in a new film coming from Netflix’s Cuties director Maïmouna Doucouré.
Doucouré will write and direct the upcoming biopic on the American-born French entertainer, spy and civil rights activist. The film will be produced under StudioCanal.
The film will be produced under StudioCanal.
“I am very excited to be involved in this wonderful project. Josephine Baker is such an inspiration for me and so many people around the world,” Doucouré said in a press statement. “It’s a huge honor and also a beautiful challenge to board this project with Studiocanal. To think that through fiction I can tell her great and profoundly rich story, her beauty, her fights, her wounds, and her humanity. I can’t wait to breathe new life into this incredible legend on screen.”
The project will also be helmed with the support of Josephine Baker’s sons, Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker and the Rainbow Tribe, the 12 children Baker adopted after World War II.
Doucouré is known for directing the controversial Netflix film, Cuties.
“Josephine Baker. The universal artist, woman and mother. We are honored to partner with Studiocanal and collaborate with Maïmouna on this feature film about the incredible and humanist achievements of our mother. Yes she could. And she did. Thank you Mum,” Baker’s sons and the Rainbow tribes said in a statement.
This isn’t the only rendition of Josephine Baker’s life to be immortalized for film or television.
Oscar-nominated actress Ruth Negga is slated to portray Baker in a limited series. In addition, actress and singer Janelle Monae is slated to play Baker in De La Resistance, a new TV series from A24.
“Studiocanal is so proud to be bringing this powerful, universal story to the big screen, and we are grateful to Brian and Jean-Claude Bouillon-Baker for entrusting this with us,” Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh said. “Josephine is the definition of the modern woman; a visionary and ground-breaking human being who showed unconditional love and kindness, which should be an inspiration to all. Under the guidance of the immensely talented Maïmouna Doucoure we are determined to honor the extraordinary legacy of Josephine with this ambitious film.”
