{"id":22977,"date":"2024-04-11T14:10:29","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T18:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22977"},"modified":"2024-04-11T14:10:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T18:10:29","slug":"the-color-purple-director-blitz-bazawule-to-direct-black-samurai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22977","title":{"rendered":"“The Color Purple” Director Blitz Bazawule to Direct “Black Samurai” for Warner Bros."},"content":{"rendered":"

Warner Brothers. Discovery<\/a> had landed the rights to a legendary African samurai Yasuke and \u201cThe Color Purple<\/strong>\u201d director Blitz Bazawule<\/a> tapped to direct the period piece in Japan. According to Variety, the studio beat out three other studios for the movie, which is tentatively titled “Black Samurai<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The latest project will reunite Bazawule and producer\/CEO of Warner Bros. Pictures Group Michael De Luca.<\/p>\n

Yasuke<\/b> was a man of\u00a0African\u00a0origin who came to\u00a0Japan\u00a0in the Sengoku period and became a\u00a0retainer\u00a0in the household of\u00a0Sengoku Daimyo Oda Nobunaga. He was valued as a\u00a0retainer who was given a\u00a0stipend\u00a0by Nobunaga.\u00a0Yasuke is regarded by some writers as Japan’s first recorded foreign-born samurai.<\/p>\n

Talks of a Yasuke film have been happening for nearly the last decade, with Lionsgate announcing plans for a movie in 2017 that was originally set to be titled Black Samurai.\u00a0 <\/span>In 2019, \u201cBlack Panther<\/strong><\/a>\u201d star Chadwick Boseman\u00a0was supposed to play a lead character in a film, but due to his untimely death, no other updates on the project had been made.<\/p>\n

Yasuke\u2019s story has been referenced and adapted in several ways throughout the years. Most recently in a 2021 Netflix animated series, titled “Yasuke<\/strong>,” which starred Lakeith Stanfield as the English voice of the samurai. It\u2019s also widely believed that the hit “Afro Samurai” <\/strong>franchise is based in part on the story of Yasuke as well.<\/p>\n

Blitz Bazawule wrote on spec and will direct and produce under his Inward Gaze banner. After Bazasule did surprize the industry with his 2018 debut \u201cThe Burial of Kojo<\/strong>,\u201d helming episodes of Ava DuVernay\u2019s \u201cCherish the Day<\/strong>\u201d and then working with Beyonc\u00e9 on her feature-length visual album \u201cBlack Is King,\u201d Bazawule made his major studio debut with 2023\u2019s \u201cThe Color Purple<\/strong>.\u201d \u201cThe Color Purple<\/strong>\u201d debuted last December to critical acclaim, eventually garnering a supporting actress Academy Award nomination for Danielle Brooks, as well as BAFTA, Critics Choice, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for its star-studded ensemble led by Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo and Corey Hawkins.<\/p>\n

The Ghanaian filmmaker, who brought his unique vision to the Oprah Winfrey & Steven Spielberg-produced musical film, I\u2019m sure we can wait for this project with high expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warner Brothers. Discovery had landed the rights to a legendary African samurai Yasuke and \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d director Blitz Bazawule tapped to direct the period piece in Japan. According to Variety, the studio beat out three other studios for the movie, which is tentatively titled “Black Samurai.” The latest project will reunite Bazawule and producer\/CEO…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,20471],"tags":[21530,3751,2634,21532,21531,382,3748,9425,381],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n'The Color Purple' Director Blitz Bazawule to Direct 'Black Samurai'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A legendary African samurai Yasuke : \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d director Blitz Bazawule tapped to direct the period piece in Japan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22977\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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