Paula Patton Will Reportedly Star in and Produce Josephine Baker Drama

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The project is currently searching for writers to pen the adaptation.

Paula Patton has reportedly optioned film and television rights to Josephine Baker’s Last Dance, a novel by Sherry Jones. 

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Patton aims to star and produce the adaptation. 

Baker is heralded as one of the best performers of the Jazz Age. Originally from St. Louis, she found her way to Europe where she was wildly successful. During World War II she was an undercover agent for the French resistance and would later become a civil rights activist. 

In her 20s she left America and was accepted as a high-class entertainer. Following her return to the U.S. she worked with the NAACP and is also remembered as the only woman to march alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and speak at the 1963 March on Washington.  

Recently Patton was announced as the lead character in a BET+ film titled Sacrifice. The thriller is being helmed by Chris Stokes and co-executive producer by Marques Houston. Over the years, she has also starred in Jumping The Broom and the Academy Award-winning Precious. Her last film was the 2018 thriller Traffik, she also was on the ABC series Somewhere Between. 

In an official statement, Patton shared why she’s aiming to work on this project:

"Josephine Baker had an incredible life and was a remarkable woman. It’s been a childhood dream of mine to play such an inspirational person and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to tell her story."

Writers are currently being tapped to pen the adaptation.