In a competitive situation, Warner Bros. has landed “The Color Purple” director Blitz Bazawule’s next project, which takes on the legendary Yasuke, an African warrior who became the first Black samurai.
Sources tell Variety that Warner Bros. beat out three other studios and streamers’ bids on the script, tentatively titled “Black Samurai,” which Bazawule wrote on spec and will direct and produce under his Inward Gaze banner.
After impressing the industry with his 2018 debut “The Burial of Kojo,” helming episodes of Ava DuVernay’s “Cherish the Day” and working with Beyoncé on her feature-length visual album “Black Is King,” Bazawule made his major studio debut with 2023’s “The Color Purple.”
The Ghanaian filmmaker, who brought his unique visual language to the Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg-produced musical movie, is said to have done the same with his take on Yasuke, an African warrior who served under Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga during the Sengoku period of samurai conflict in 16th century Japan. Instead of a traditional biopic, the film invokes shades of “300” and “Max Max.” Exact plot points are still under wraps.
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When Bazawule was named to Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch list earlier this year, he reflected on the daunting task of mounting his musical reimagining of Alice Walker’s 1982 classic.
“When you get the opportunity to even pitch for it, the first question becomes, ‘What are you possibly going to add to this canon?’ That was my first biggest piece of anxiety,” Bazawule said. His solution: leaning into Celie’s imagination by employing magical realism to illustrate how this oppressed woman found her way to freedom.
Bazawule’s “Color Purple” debuted last December to critical acclaim, eventually garnering a supporting actress Academy Award nomination for Danielle Brooks, as well as BAFTA, Critics Choice, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for its star-studded ensemble led by Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo and Corey Hawkins. The movie also dominated at the NAACP Image Awards with 11 wins, including the prize for outstanding motion picture.
The filmmaker also continues to develop a limited series for FX based on his debut novel “The Scent of Burnt Flowers,” in which Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is attached to star and executive produce.
News of Bazawule’s buzzy next effort broke late Tuesday, just ahead of Warner Bros.’ presentation at CinemaCon where studio chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy previewed the studio’s slate. Notably, before taking on the top job at WB, De Luca was set to produce another Yasuke film, starring Chadwick Boseman. Also, in 2019, MGM had a Yasuke project in development from writer Stuart C. Paul and producers Lloyd Braun and Andrew Mittman.
Insneider was first to report Bazawule’s Yasuke movie being shopped around to studios.
Bazawule is represented by CAA, M88 and Granderson Des Rochers.
