Garrett Bradley’s taking inspiration from another trailblazer. The Oscar-nominated “Time” director is set to follow up her Naomi Osaka Netflix docuseries with an adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower.” A24 snagged rights to the 1993 novel. Deadline broke the news.
The first in a two-book series, “Parable of the Sower” is “set in a near future Los Angeles devastated by societal collapse” and follows “a teenager with a unique gift [who] must lead humanity in a battle against extinction.”
The project will mark Bradley’s first major studio feature. “Naomi Osaka,” her portrait of the history-making tennis pro, recently premiered on Netflix. “Time,” her tribute to a modern-day abolitionist fighting to free her incarcerated husband, received an Oscar nom this year for Best Documentary Feature. The film premiered at Sundance 2020, and Bradley became the the first Black woman to win the fest’s Directing Award: U.S. Documentary.
“Zola” writer-director Janicza Bravo was recently tapped to helm an FX pilot based on “Kindred,” Butler’s 1979 novel about a young Black woman and aspiring writer who keeps being pulled back and forth between the present and the days of 19th-century slavery.
The recipient of two Nebula awards and two Hugo awards, Butler’s other books include “Wild Seed” and “Bloodchild.” She died in 2006.
