Regina King will direct and produce a feature adaptation of Image Comics’ Bitter Root! Deadline announced the project this week, based on the comic series created by David F. Walker, Chuck Brown and Sanford Greene.
Legendary Pictures acquired the rights to the film in March 2019; they only just closed the deal with King. She will produce the project alongside Ryan and Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian. Bryan Edward Hill is also on board to rewrite the script’s draft, while the comics’ creators will executive produce.
Bitter Root takes place in 1924 during the Harlem Renaissance and features a fractured family of monster hunters. The Sangerye family has spent generations protecting New York from evil forces that feed off prejudice and transform humans into hideous monsters. Now they’ve been torn apart by tragedy and conflicting morals; they must come back together and move beyond their differences, or allow unimaginable evil to ravage humanity.
Bitter Root has garnered a ton of acclaim; the series received nominations in 2019 for an Eisner Award for Best New Series and a Ringo award for Best Series. Greene and Brown came up with the initial idea of a story mixing hoodoo, African-American culture of the Jazz Age and the possibilities of a post-World War II New York City. Once they found David F. Walker, who worked with Greene on Marvel’s Power Man and Iron Fist, the concept was fully formed.
As for Regina King, she’s no stranger to incredible comic book adaptations. After all, she starred in 2019’s phenomenal Watchmen tv series. Bitter Root will be King’s second turn as director, coming on the heels of the acclaimed One Night In Miami which received three Oscar nominations. King also won the 2019 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk as well as four Emmy awards.
How ready are you to see Bitter Root on the big screen? Keep an eye on this space for more updates about the project as we learn them.
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