FKA Twigs to Star as Josephine Baker in Biopic

Grammy-winning artist FKA Twigs will star as Josephine Baker in an untitled biopic directed by Maimouna Doucouré, with filming set to begin this fall and international sales launching at the Cannes Film Festival.

The project, financed and co-produced by Studiocanal alongside Doucouré's Bien Ou Bien Productions and CPB Films, has the backing of Baker's sons, Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker, as well as members of the Rainbow Tribe, the name Baker gave to her 12 adopted children of various ethnicities. Studiocanal plans theatrical releases in its territories, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Benelux, Poland, Australia and New Zealand.

Born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis in 1906, Baker rose to fame as a dancer, singer and performer after moving to Paris in 1925, becoming a Jazz Age icon at venues like the Folies Bergère. Her influence extended beyond entertainment: during World War II, she served in the French Resistance, using her fame to smuggle intelligence on Nazi positions. In the 1950s and 1960s, she emerged as a key figure in the American Civil Rights Movement, participating in the 1963 March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King Jr....