FKA twigs to play Josephine Baker in Maïmouna Doucouré's biopic
FKA twigs will play Josephine Baker in a biopic directed by Maïmouna Doucouré, according to Variety. The film is titled Josephine Baker.
The story is built around Baker's return to the United States in 1951. Flashbacks move back through her childhood in St. Louis, her rise in 1920s Paris, her work with the French Resistance during the Second World War and her later years. The production recreates the Folies Bergère, the Paris cabaret where Baker became a sensation in the 1920s.
Studiocanal is co-producing the film with Bien ou Bien Productions. The studio is also financing the project and handling its international sales, which means selling the film to cinemas and broadcasters outside its home market. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays Baker's mother.
The production used some 2,400 extras, a number that gives a sense of how many people were needed to fill the period scenes. Scale of that kind is one reason the casting process took time to plan.
Doucouré travelled from London to New York and Los Angeles to audition actresses for the lead. Each audition included singing, dancing and a dramatic scene, so candidates had to show several skills in one session. FKA twigs was among the first performers Doucouré saw during the London leg of the search.
For fans of the singer, the role marks a move into a major screen biopic. For anyone new to Baker, she was an American-born dancer and singer who built her career in Paris, and the film covers both her fame there and the years that followed. Further casting and release details have not been announced.
