Regina King To Direct Adaptation Of Image Comics Series ‘Bitter Root’

Deadline is reporting that Regina King to direct and produce the feature adaptation of Bitter Root, the acclaimed Image Comics series created by David F. Walker & Sanford Greene and indie veteran Chuck Brown, for Legendary Pictures. King will also produce with her sister Reina King via their Royal Ties banner, alongside Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian of Proximity Media. Walker, Greene, Brown and Drapetomedia’s Sean Owolo will executive produce. Bryan Edward Hill is currently rewriting the draft.

The story is set during the vibrant Harlem Renaissance of 1924, when a fractured family of once-great monster hunters faces an unimaginable evil that descends upon New York City. For generations, the Sangeryes have hunted and cured those infected by a supernatural force that feeds off the prejudice of the era, transforming human beings into hideous monsters. With most of the family dead, and the surviving Sangeryes at odds between saving or killing the creatures, they must overcome the wounds of the past in the hopes of thwarting an invasion.

King is coming off her acclaimed directing debut on the Amazon Studios pic One Night In Miami, for which she was nominated for a DGA Award and an NAACP Image Award; the film also received three Oscar nominations. As an actress, she won the 2019 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk and is a four-time Emmy winner.