FKA Twigs to Play Josephine Baker in New Biopic from Maimouna Doucouré

FKA Twigs is set to take on one of her biggest screen roles yet, with filming on a Josephine Baker biopic due to begin this fall.

The as-yet-untitled film comes from Maimouna Doucouré, the director of Cuties and Hawa, who is writing and directing the project for Studiocanal. The film is being presented for sale at the Cannes Film Festival, which opens Tuesday, May 12, and runs through May 23.

According to Variety, Twigs, born Tahliah Debrett Barnett, said in a statement: “I am honored to collaborate with the immensely talented Maïmouna Doucouré on this incredible project. Josephine Baker’s extraordinary legacy is such an inspiration to me and to so many people around the world. She lives on in our hearts as a visionary, groundbreaking woman whose story is as powerful as it is relevant today. I cannot wait to embody Josephine Baker bringing her fight, her love, her losses, her talent and her heroism to the big screen.”

Doucouré will also produce the film under her Bien Ou Bien Prods. banner. The project is being developed with support from Baker’s sons, Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker, along with the other members of the Rainbow Tribe.

Twigs, 38, is currently in theaters with Mother Mary, the Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel musical drama. In the new film, she’ll portray the St. Louis-born singer, dancer, actress and activist who became a star in France and made history as the first Black woman to appear in a major film, the 1927 silent Siren of the Tropics.

Baker’s life has long carried a kind of larger-than-life charge, and the movie is leaning into the full scope of it. She was known for her high-energy performances and striking stage costumes, and during World War II she worked as a French Resistance spy during WWII, smuggling coded messages to France from opposing forces hidden inside her lyrics. She was also the only female speaker at the 1968 Poor People’s March for civil rights in Washington, D.C.

Nicknamed “Black Venus,” Baker stepped back from performing for periods to raise her “Rainbow Tribe” of 12 adopted children from different countries and backgrounds. She died in April 1975 at age 68 after a show at the Bobino Theater in Paris.

“Josephine Baker has lived with me for years. Working on this film, I realize how modern, fearless and complex she was,” Doucouré said in a statement. “Beyond the legend, I want to explore her contradictions, her wounds and her immense courage, as well as her relentless fight for dignity. With the extraordinary FKA Twigs bringing her rare artistry, intelligence and emotional depth to the role, it is a huge honor to work with Studiocanal to bring Josephine’s story to the screen for a global audience: the story of a woman who never stopped reinventing herself and fighting for justice and equality.”

Studiocanal plans to release the film theatrically in its territories, including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Benelux, Poland, Australia and New Zealand. There’s no word yet on North American distribution.

Twigs released her fourth studio album, Eusexua: Afterglow, in November.