FKA Twigs steps into her first leading role, bringing Josephine Baker’s legacy to the big screen.
When I first heard rumours that FKA Twigs would be playing Josephine Baker in a biopic, I excitedly started bumping her 2025 album EUSEXUA.
It was one of those castings that felt perfectly unique, but also completely meant to be.
English avant-pop superstar FKA Twigs has now confirmed that she will play Josephine Baker in a new biopic.
The film will chart the Jazz Age star’s departure from the United States, where she went on to leave her mark as one of the most celebrated performers in French history.
In recent years, Tahliah Barnett (FKA Twigs) has taken a greater interest in the silver screen, most notably playing supporting roles in The Crow and The Carpenter’s Son.
However, this will be the first time she takes on a lead role, portraying a figure who has been a deep inspiration to her music career.
Barnett went on to say on Instagram that Josephine Baker “lives on in our hearts as a visionary… I cannot wait to embody Josephine Baker, bringing her fight, her love, her losses, her talent, and her heroism to the big screen.”
All of this encapsulates the unique and inspiring life that Baker went on to live.
Born in 1906, Josephine Baker experienced significant racism and poverty during her upbringing in St Louis, before moving to New York to begin her career as a dancer.
It wasn’t until her move to Paris in 1925 that she became an influential performer and figure, taking her from banana-skirt dance stages all the way to the French Resistance in World War II.
She was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, Siren of the Tropics, and continued to inspire the likes of Diana Ross and Lynn Whitfield, who notably portrayed her in their own ways.
This new, as-yet-unnamed film depicting her life will be helmed by French director Maïmouna Doucouré, who said, “Working on this film, I realise how modern, fearless and complex she was… I want to explore her contradictions, her wounds and her immense courage.”
The film is set to begin shooting in the fall of this year, and will be financed and co-produced by Studiocanal.
I’ll be eagerly waiting – and bumping FKA Twigs – until we learn more.
