The acclaimed novel The Water Dancer is getting a big-screen adaptation with Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt behind the new film.
MGM has agreed a deal to bring the Ta-Nehisi Coates novel The Water Dancer to the movies, with Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films and Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B teaming up to produce.
The announcement, (via The Hollywood reporter) marks the second time the two companies have worked together. They collaborated back in 2014 for Selma, the Oscar-nominated story of Martin Luther King’s protest marches.
The Water Dancer is a highly-regarded novel that Ta-Nehisi Coates has also adapted for the screen.
The plot goes as such: ‘Set in the pre-Civil War South, the story follows Hiram Walker, born into bondage. He possesses amazing photographic memory but has no memory of his mother. A car accident reveals to him a superpower called conduction, an ability to travel large distances and that is triggered by powerful memories of his mother. As he struggles to gain an understanding of this power, he becomes involved with the Underground Railroad and meets historical figures.’
No announcements have been made as of yet regarding the project’s director or cast.
As well as being a successful novelist, Coates currently writes the Black Panther and Captain America comic book series for Marvel.
As well as the aforementioned Selma, Plan B has a fantastic record of bringing black American stories to the screen, having produced the likes of 12 Years A Slave, Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk.
We’ll keep you posted as we hear more of this one, but it could be something special.
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