Brad Pitt and Oprah Are Producing a Movie Adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Book ‘The Water Dancer’
David Livingston/Getty Images, Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images
Brad Pitt and Oprah Winfrey are teaming up to produce The Water Dancer, a film adaptation of the best-selling novel about a slave with mysterious superpowers.
The Water Dancer, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, merges the slavery narrative with elements of sci-fi and fantasy. The story is set in the pre-Civil War South and follows Hiram Walker, who was born enslaved. After almost drowning from crashing his carriage into a river, he discovers the ability to transport himself and others across great distances, but he needs to remember his late mother to access the power. Walker then becomes involved in a movement to free the slaves.
Pitt’s production company Plan B and Winfrey’s Harpo Films are producing the movie for MGM alongside Kamilah Forbes, the executive producer of the Apollo Theater. Forbes recently directed a theater production of Coates’ book Between the World and Me. She also directed an upcoming HBO documentary that will feature readings from the book.
“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,” said MGM in a statement obtained by the Hollywood Reporter. “Hiram’s story is one of devotion to those he loves, and the journey he takes to bring them together. All of us at MGM are incredibly honored to join Ta-Nehisi, Kamilah, Plan B and Harpo Films in bringing this film to the screen.”
Coates, who will be adapting his own novel for the screen, added in a statement, “I’m honored to be working with Harpo, Plan B and my old friend Kamilah Forbes. We all believe that MGM is the best home for this adaptation and look forward to bringing it to life.”
Pitt and Winfrey previously teamed up to produce 2014’s Selma, which chronicled Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, AL to secure equal voting rights.
