Music star FKA twigs has been confirmed to star in Maimouna Doucoure’s biopic of US-French performer Josephine Baker, which Studiocanal is launching for sales at Cannes.
The as-yet-untitled film is scheduled to shoot this autumn. Studiocanal will release in its territories of UK-Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Benelux, Poland, and Australia-New Zealand.
The biopic will tell the story of Baker, a US-born singer, dancer and actress who moved to Paris in the 1920s and rose to worldwide fame as a defining figure of the Jazz Age, thanks to her charisma and stage presence. Baker also joined the French Resistance during the Second World War, and was a prominent voice in the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.
The film is currently in development, with the support of Baker’s sons Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker, and the Rainbow tribe – a group of 12 children who Baker adopted and raised in France. It is produced by France’s Bien Ou Bien Productions.
French filmmaker Doucoure, whose previous films include 2020’s Cuties and 2022’s Hawa, will write and direct the film. FKA twigs – like Baker, a multi-hyphenate singer, actor, dancer and performer – has previous screen credits including Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy, Rupert Sanders’ The Crow, and most recently David Lowery’s Mother Mary.
“Josephine Baker has lived with me for years,” said Doucoure. “Working on this film, I realise how modern, fearless and complex she was. Beyond the legend, I want to explore her contradictions, her wounds and her immense courage, as well as her relentless fight for dignity.”
“Josephine Baker’s extraordinary legacy is such an inspiration to me and to so many people around the world,” said twigs. “She lives on in our hearts as a visionary, ground-breaking woman whose story is as powerful as it is relevant today.”
“Josephine Baker’s story is one we have long aspired to tell, and to do so with the exceptional creative vision of Maïmouna Doucouré and the remarkable talent of FKA twigs makes this project especially meaningful,” said Anna Marsh, Studiocanal CEO and chief content officer of Canal+ Group.
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