David Oyelowo and Oprah To Co-Direct Disney’s ‘The Water Man’

From Chiwetel Ejiofor’s The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind to Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje’s visceral Farming, and Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart, said to be one of Nigeria’s biggest movie exports of recent, it is exciting to see Nigerian actors making the jump to directing. David Oyelowo is set to join the likes of Ejiofor and Nnaji as a director for upcoming Disney film, The Water Man.

In 2015, it was announced that Selma actor, was in talks to produce and direct the film alongside Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films. The movie which is written by new on the scene screenwriter, Emma Needell, will see Oyelowo play the titular Water Man and is now official.

The Water Man is a magical family drama about a precocious young boy Gunner who, in order to save his ill mother, runs away from home to find a mythic/legendary character called The Water Man, who has been rumoured to be able to cheat death. While extremely close to his mother, he and his father Amos have an adversarial relationship and are forced to learn about each other as Amos goes on the search for his son.

We are excited to see how The Water Man pans out and we can’t wait to bring you updates about the movie.