FKA Twigs In Talks to Star as Josephine Baker in Studiocanal’s Biopic From ‘Cuties’ Director Maimouna Doucouré

Grammy-nominated artist FKA Twigs is in negotiations to star as Josephine Baker, the pioneering American-born French dancer, singer and actor, in a biopic which will be directed by Maimouna Doucouré, the filmmaker behind “Cuties.”

Studiocanal is financing and co-producing the film, as well as handling international sales. Doucouré’s banner Bien ou Bien Prods is producing with Studiocanal, alongside with CPB Films. The biopic has also been endorsed by Josephine Baker’s sons, Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker, and the Rainbow Tribe, which is what she dubbed her many adopted children.

Baker, a trailblazing entertainer and civil rights activist, became the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture (“Siren of the Tropics”) in 1927.

FKA Twigs will next be seen in “The Carpenter’s Son,” starring opposite Nicolas Cage. She last starred opposite Bill Skarsgård in Lionsgate’s remake of “The Crow” and previously won praise for her performance alongside Noah Jupe in Alma Har’el’s “Honey Boy.” Earlier this year, FKA Twigs released her third studio album, “Eusexua.”

Doucouré, who was born and raised in Paris to parents of Senegalese origins, is one of France’s rare Black filmmakers making feature films. Her short film “Maman(s),” which premiered at Sundance and won a Cesar award, was inspired by her experience as a child growing up in a polygamous family. Her controversial feature debut, “Cuties,” which shed light on the sexualization of children, won best director at Sundance. Doucouré also received the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women from the Academy Women’s Initiative. The news of FKA Twigs’ casting was first reported in Satellifacts.