This acclaimed debut novel by Ta-Nehesi Coates follows slave boy Hiram Walker who possesses an amazing photographic memory but has no memory of his mother.
- Nov 12, 2020
AceShowbiz - Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt are teaming up to adapt Ta-Nehisi Coates acclaimed debut novel "The Water Dancer" for the big screen.
Winfrey's Harpo Films and Pitt's Plan B are producing the movie, which will follow the plot of Coates pre-U.S. Civil War set fantasy story, for MGM.
Kamilah Forbes, who previously developed and directed the theatrical version of the writer's non-fiction book "Between the World and Me" at the legendary Apollo Theater and Kennedy Center, will also produce.
"I'm honored to be working with Harpo, Plan B and my old friend Kamilah Forbes," author Coates tells The Hollywood Reporter. "We all believe that MGM is the best home for this adaptation and look forward to bringing it to life."
The book, published last year, follows Hiram Walker, a boy born into slavery who possesses an amazing photographic memory but has no memory of his mother, and discovers he has superpowers.
"Ta-Nehisi's debut fiction novel has at its heart, a beautiful character in Hiram Walker, whose personal odyssey weaves the supernatural and spiritual, with the terrible reality of the forced separations endured by enslaved people and their families for centuries," MGM's film group chairman Michael De Luca and president Pamela Abdy say in a statement.
Coates has adapted his own novel for the screen. The New York Times bestseller was selected by Winfrey as her first pick for her Apple TV show revival of her "Oprah's Book Club", and has made numerous critics' best of 2019 lists.
Details of the cast and a director are yet to be announced.
