FKA Twigs will star as Josephine Baker in a new biopic from filmmaker Maimouna Doucouré, the director of Cuties. The project will begin filming this fall, with Studiocanal financing and co-producing the film. Studiocanal will also launch sales for the project at Cannes now that the deals for Twigs and Doucouré have closed.
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The yet-to-be-titled film will trace Baker’s life from her birth in St. Louis in 1906 to her rise in Paris after her move to France in 1925. Baker became one of the defining performers of the Jazz Age through dance, music, and film, then expanded her public role far beyond the stage. During World War II, she joined the French Resistance and supported the Allied nations in the fight against fascism. In the 1950s and 1960s, she became a major voice in the American Civil Rights Movement.
Twigs described Baker as a figure whose story still carries force. “I am honored to collaborate with the immensely talented Maïmouna Doucouré on this incredible project,” she said. “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.”
The role follows Twigs’ recent acting work in A24’s Mother Mary. For the artist, Baker offers a rare screen subject: a performer whose life moved through fame, political risk, public scrutiny, and activism. The film aims to approach that history through Baker’s creative drive, personal losses, and public fight for dignity.
Doucouré will write and direct the film, and will also produce through her company Bien Ou Bien Prods., alongside Studiocanal and CPB Films. Baker’s sons, Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker, support the project, along with the Rainbow Tribe, the name Baker gave to her adopted children.
“Josephine Baker has lived with me for years. Working on this film, I realize how modern, fearless and complex she was,” Doucouré said. “Beyond the legend, I want to explore her contradictions, her wounds and her immense courage, as well as her relentless fight for dignity.” She added that FKA Twigs brings “rare artistry, intelligence and emotional depth” to the role.
Studiocanal CEO and Canal+ Group Chief Content Officer Anna Marsh said the company had long wanted to tell Baker’s story. She pointed to Doucouré’s direction and Twigs’ performance as central to the film’s strength, calling the project “especially meaningful” for the studio.
