Yasuke is one step closer to the big screen.
Lionsgate has tapped Highlander creator Gregory Widen to script Black Samurai, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Michael De Luca and Stephen L’Heureux are producing the film as a co-production between Solipsist Films and De Luca Productions.
The period action drama is based on the historical tale of Yasuke, who is known to be the first black samurai to serve a warlord in Japan. Under a warlord named Oda Nobunaga in the mid-1500s, he is the only known African to reach that ranking in feudal Japan.
Widen co-wrote Highlander, the 1986 film about the adventures an the ageless immortal Scottish swordsman. It spurred a series of films and a syndicated television series. He is repped by Above the Line and Echo Lake.
