Teyonah Parris of “Dear White People,” “Chi-Raq,” and AMC’s “Mad Men” is reportedly in talks to star in “Buffalo Soldier Girl” for filmmaker Christine Swanson, according to Deadline.
The project tells the story of a woman who, disguised as a man, enlisted and fought with the African-American Post-Civil War era as a “Buffalo Soldier.” It will reunite Parris with Swanson, who directed the actress in the upcoming biopic “Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story.”
The script is from Sarah Bird, a winner of the Meryl Streep Writer’s Lab Screenwriting Competition.
The project will be directed by Swanson for production company Pantheon of Women, founded by Alicia Goodrow, Donna Fujimoto Cole, and Deborah Kainer. The company’s motto is “Entertain, Engage, and Empower,” and they have a relationship with Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival.
As Deadline notes, the project and the players have a history with the Bentonville Film Festival and all will return this year. Christine Swanson will participate in the 2016 Bentonville Film Festival’s mentoring workshop while Parris will attend in support of her film, “Five Nights in Maine.”
