Posted by | Ray Cornelius
Indie Wire is reporting that movie producers for a new Josephine Baker biopic are looking at Rihanna for the role of the Harlem Renaissance icon.
According to reports, Noosa Films has won the rights to La Baker’s story from its French publishers, Editionas Robert Laffont. Apparently, the film’s producer W. Lance Reybolds has expressed that he wants the “Pour it Up” singer in the lead role of Baker.
If all things go as planned, this would be the first full-length motion picture about the life of Josephine Baker; a dancer who left New York for Paris in the 1920’s and became an international star. Baker was also a singer, actress, and fashion icon, who at one point was considered the rich’s Black woman in the world. She is best known for her infamous banana dance and has influenced the careers of Beyoncé, Keri Hilson and Kat Graham.
Most people will remember the 1991 HBO film, The Josephine Baker Story starring actress Lynn Whitfield as Baker and Rubén Blades as her lover Giuseppe Pepito Abatino. Many actresses have tried to produce their own Baker projects including Diana Ross and the late Whitney Houston. Most recently singer and actress, Deborah Cox mentioned that she was working on a musical about Baker.
RC will keep you posted on this as it develops. In the meantime, please tell us your thoughts. Who would you cast as Josephine Baker?