“Cuties” helmer Maïmouna Doucoure is attached to write and direct a biopic of pioneering American-born French dancer, singer and actor Josephine Baker for Studiocanal.
Baker was a trailblazing Black entertainer and fearless civil rights activist and became the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture in 1927.
She refused to perform for segregated audiences in the U.S. and worked as a secret agent for the French Resistance during WWII. She supported Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement and spoke at his side during his 1963 March on Washington.
Bien ou Bien Productions and CPB Films are backing the film, which will be endorsed by her sons, Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker, and her adopted children.
Filming will begin next year, with casting to be announced in the coming months. The project is separate from the upcoming A24 series “De La Resistance” which will star Janelle Monae as Baker.
Source: Screen Daily
