The Color Purple director Blitz Bazawule is currently working on a project about the legendary African samurai Yasuke that Warner Bros. Discovery has landed the rights to.
News of the picture being shopped was originally reported by Jeff Sneider of The Insneider, with Variety confirming that Warner Bros. had landed the rights for the project. According to Variety, the studio beat out three other studios for the movie, which is tentatively titled Black Samurai.
The project reunites producer and now CEO of Warner Bros. Pictures Group Michael De Luca with the project. In 2019, when Chadwick Boseman was reported to be playing the character in a film, it was De Luca who was set to produce the project.
The story of Yasuke is one of the most well-known tales of any samurai. Originally thought to be brought to Japan as a slave, Yasuke is believed to be one of the first Black men to have ever been to Japan and he was eventually given the title of Samurai under the service of Japanese Sengoku daimyō Oda Nobunaga.
A film based on Yasuke has been talked about for years
Yasuke’s story has been referenced and adapted in several ways throughout the years. Most recently in a 2021 Netflix animated series, titled Yasuke, which starred Lakeith Stanfield as the English voice of the samurai. It’s also widely believed that the hit Afro Samurai franchise is based in part on the story of Yasuke.
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. In 2019, it was reported that Boseman had been chosen to play the role of Yasuke, but following his passing in 2020, no other updates on the project had been made.
Blitz Bazawule most recently directed the critically acclaimed 2023 adaptation of The Color Purple. Bazawule also co-directed the 2020 musical film Black is King alongside Beyonce, which earned him a Grammy nomination.
