FKA Twigs to Star as Josephine Baker in New StudioCanal Biopic Directed by Maïmouna Doucouré

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In a landmark casting announcement timed for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival market, FKA twigs has been confirmed to star as the legendary Josephine Baker in an ambitious new biopic. French-Senegalese filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré—best known for her controversial yet acclaimed debut Cuties—will write and direct the untitled feature, backed by StudioCanal. Production is slated to begin in fall 2026, marking Twigs’ first lead role in a major theatrical film and the first major Baker biopic developed with full endorsement from the icon’s family.

This project arrives at a moment of renewed global interest in Baker’s extraordinary life: from St. Louis poverty to Jazz Age superstardom in Paris, wartime espionage, civil rights activism, and her role as a symbol of multicultural harmony through her “Rainbow Tribe” of adopted children. With Twigs’ boundary-pushing artistry, dance background, and emotional depth, paired with Doucouré’s intimate lens on identity, girlhood, and cultural displacement, the film promises a fresh, modern take on one of the 20th century’s most complex icons.

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Born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri, Baker’s early years were defined by hardship and resilience. Raised in poverty by a washerwoman mother after her vaudeville-drummer father abandoned the family, she experienced the brutal realities of American racism firsthand. The 1917 East St. Louis race riots left a lasting scar. By age 8 or 9, she was working domestic jobs; at 13, she ran away, eventually joining vaudeville troupes and adopting the surname of her second husband.

Baker’s big break came in 1925 when she sailed to Paris as part of La Revue Nègre. France’s fascination with American jazz and Black culture catapulted her to fame. Performing at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, she became a sensation with her energetic dancing, charismatic stage presence, and signature “Danse Sauvage.” She quickly rose to become one of Europe’s highest-paid performers, starring in revues, films like Zouzou, and becoming the first Black woman to lead a major motion picture in Europe.

Beyond entertainment, Baker’s legacy encompasses profound courage. During World War II, she joined the French Resistance, leveraging her celebrity to smuggle secrets and entertain troops. She later received France’s Croix de Guerre, Legion of Honour, and Rosette de la Résistance. In 2021, she became the first Black woman inducted into the Panthéon in Paris.

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Tahliah Debrett Barnett, professionally known as FKA twigs, was born in Cheltenham, England, on January 16, 1988. Her stage name fuses “FKA” with “Twigs,” inspired by the cracking of her joints during dance rehearsals. A trained dancer, she began her career in music videos and backup choreography before emerging as one of contemporary music’s most visually innovative artists.

Projects like LP1, M3LL155X, and her Grammy-recognized work established her as a boundary-pushing creative force blending electronic music, avant-garde choreography, vulnerability, and performance art. Her acting résumé includes appearances in Honey Boy and The Crow, but the Baker biopic represents her first major theatrical lead.

In her statement, Twigs expressed deep admiration for Baker’s legacy and cultural impact, emphasizing the icon’s continuing relevance to modern audiences. Critics have noted discussion around casting a British performer as the Missouri-born Baker, though supporters argue Baker herself embodied international identity and reinvention.

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Maïmouna Doucouré brings a deeply personal perspective to the project. Born in France to Senegalese parents and raised in a Paris banlieue, her work frequently explores immigration, identity, cultural pressure, and femininity. Her short film Maman(s) earned international recognition before Cuties premiered at Sundance and ignited worldwide controversy.

Doucouré has described Baker as “modern, fearless and complex,” emphasizing her intention to explore the icon’s contradictions, wounds, and courage rather than simply recreating glamorous mythology. Co-written with Olivier Lorelle, the film will be produced through Doucouré’s Bien ou Bien Productions alongside StudioCanal and partners, shooting in both English and French.

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The project has reportedly been in development since at least 2022 and carries rare endorsement from Baker’s family, including members of her “Rainbow Tribe.” That support gives the production unusual legitimacy while positioning it as potentially the most definitive cinematic interpretation of Baker’s life to date.

Its relevance extends beyond entertainment. Baker’s story intersects with conversations surrounding race, migration, fascism, celebrity activism, and global Black identity. Twigs’ casting adds another layer, bringing together a British-Ghanaian-Jamaican artist and a Senegalese-French filmmaker to reinterpret the life of an African-American performer who ultimately became a French national hero.

The film also arrives amid broader renewed interest in Baker across television, fashion, archival exhibitions, and historical reevaluation following her Panthéon induction. Previous portrayals, including the 1991 HBO adaptation starring Lynn Whitfield, explored fragments of her life, but this new production aims for emotional and psychological depth alongside spectacle.

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As anticipation builds around the Cannes market rollout, the untitled Baker project already feels larger than a traditional celebrity biopic. It represents a convergence of music, cinema, activism, diaspora identity, and historical memory. Twigs’ physicality and artistic intensity appear naturally aligned with Baker’s legendary stage presence, while Doucouré’s focus on vulnerability and contradiction could bring uncommon nuance to a figure often flattened into iconography alone.

If successful, the film may not simply revisit Josephine Baker’s legacy—it may redefine how contemporary audiences understand it.