Ruth Negga To Play Josephine Baker In New Limited Series From Dee Harris-Lawrence & Millicent Shelton
Deadline is reporting that actress Oscar nominated actress Ruth Negga (“Loving”) is attached to star as the legendary Jazz age performer and civil rights activist Josephine Baker a limited drama series in development at ABC Signature
Titled Josephine, the project come from All Rise co-showrunner Dee Harris-Lawrence, Emmy-nominated director Millicent Shelton (30 Rock), LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The Springhill Company and ABC Signature. Negga will also executive produce.
Written by Harris-Lawrence and to be directed by Shelton, Josephine is a raw and unflinching look at the force of nature that was Josephine Baker, the biggest Black female artist of her time. From international superstar and decorated WW2 spy, to Civil Rights activist and flawed mother, Josephine delves into the raw talent, sexual fluidity, struggles, and bold life of an icon.
Baker, born in Missouri in 1906, started her career at 15 when she appeared on stage in several New York shows. At 19, she moved to France, which would become her adopted home country. There, she almost immediately found success as one of Europe’s most popular and highest-paid performers. Early on, she was renowned as a dancer, and was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. She won admiration of cultural figures such as Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and E. E. Cummings, earning herself nicknames like “Black Venus” and “Black Pearl.” Baker sang professionally for the first time in 1930, and several years later landed film roles as a singer in Zou-Zou and Princesse Tam-Tam.
Baker worked for the French Resistance during World War II, and during the 1950s and ’60s devoted herself to fighting segregation and racism in the United States. Baker refused to perform for segregated audiences in the U.S. and had an active role in the civil rights movement. She was a speaker at the 1963 March on WashingtonIn, and 1968, she was offered unofficial leadership in the movement in the U.S. by Coretta Scott King, following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, but declined the offer out of concern for the welfare of her children. Just two years after making a comeback to the stage, Baker died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1975, and was buried with military honors.
Decades later, Baker’s life and work continues to influence top entertainment figures such as Beyoncé, who has portrayed her on various occasions. Baker also was portrayed by Diana Ross on Broadway and television in An Evening with Diana Ross, by Karine Plantadit in the biopic Frida and by Cush Jumbo in her debut play Josephine and I. In HBO’s 1991 biopic, The Josephine Baker Story, Baker was played by Lynn Whitfield who won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special, becoming the first Black actress to win the category. Carra Patterson recently played her in HBO’s very influential 2020 series Lovecraft Country.
Negga best known for her starring roles in the film Loving and the AMC series Preacher. She received an Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Loving
For Harris-Lawrence currently serves as an exec producer/co-showrunner on All Rise and exec producer/showrunner on David Makes Man. Prior to that, she was co-executive producer on Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G., Shots Fired and Star as well as Zoo, the ABC Signature-produced Detroit 1-8-7 and Saving Grace. She is repped by Rain Management Group and Gordon M. Bobb at Del Shaw Moonves.
Shelton landed an Emmy nomination for directing 30 Rock. The prolific music video and TV helmer has been one of ABC Signature’s go-to directors for Black-ish. She has also directed episodes of P-Valley, Insecure, The Walking Dead, Titans and the Starz comedy pilot Run The World, which was picked up to series. She recently signed on to direct Netflix’s feature thriller End of the Road starring Queen Latifah.