Actress Paula Patton is eyeing a new biopic about jazz legend Josephine Baker.
The Traffik star has optioned the film and TV rights to Sherry Jones’ novel “Josephine Baker’s Last Dance”, which she is planning to produce as a starring vehicle for herself.
“Josephine Baker had an incredible life and was a remarkable woman,” Patton told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement.
“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.”
Patton is currently searching for a writer to adapt the project.
The 2018 book chronicled the life of the Missouri-born French entertainer, who served as an undercover agent for the French resistance during World War II and went on to become a civil rights activist, all while wowing audiences as a dancer and singer.
She was also an actress, and became the first African-American to star in a major motion picture, directors Mario Nalpas and Henri Etievant’s silent film “Siren of the Tropics” in 1927.
