Paula Patton Sets Sights On Playing Josephine Baker In Adaptation Of Bio Novel

Paula Patton announced plans to portray the late icon Josephine Baker in a project about her life. The actor optioned the film and television rights for Sherry Jones’ novel, “Josephine Baker’s Last Dance,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The “Traffik” actor told the publication in an article published Monday that 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.” 

Baker, an iconic singer, dancer and actress who became a sensation in Paris starting in the mid-1920s, worked for the French Resistance and fought for civil rights in the U.S., was born in 1906 in St. Louis. She died in 1975 at age 68. 

Patton told the Build Series on Wednesday that she envisioned the project as a limited TV series. (Both Build Series and HuffPost are a part of Verizon Media.)

“Because she did so much in her life, I feel like it’s too long to be a film,” Patton said. “My sense is that it will be a limited series,” perhaps comprised of 10 parts.

“We’re going to get creative with it,” she added.

 The actor said that Baker’s real-life evolution, as someone who “gave her soul to humanity,” will be depicted in the project.

“You will see all that beautiful glamour, and then you’re going to go and delve into the heart of the woman,” she said. 

Patton is also slated to produce the project, THR reported. 

The actor celebrated Baker on Instagram on Tuesday, writing that she “not only created incredible art but had an enormous heart.”