Gina Prince-Bythewood says Children of Blood and Bone was almost not her film at all. She was offered the adaptation twice over seven years, turned it down both times, and only took it on when it came back a third time.
The timing helps explain why people are searching for Amandla Stenberg and the film now. A trailer launch event was held on Monday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City, and the fantasy adaptation is set to reach theaters on Jan. 15.
Prince-Bythewood said the first two offers did not fit what she wanted to make, but the third one landed differently. After directing The Woman King, she said she knew how to make the movie and felt she could finally bring the scale of the story to the screen. She described the project as beautifully inspired by Nigeria and inclusive of the whole diaspora, and said, “We wanted all of us to be able to see ourselves within this, just our complete and utter humanity, all the beautiful hues.”
The film brings together Regina King, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Amandla Stenberg, Idris Elba, Tosin Cole, Viola Davis, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lashana Lynch and Thuso Mbedu. Lena Waithe moderated the discussion at the Monday event, where Prince-Bythewood also said she was drawn back by “something so deep and guttural” in the story and by the young hero fighting to find her purpose.
But the film’s path to release has not been smooth. Tomi Adeyemi co-wrote the script with Prince-Bythewood, yet she recently distanced herself from the project and said she would not see the film after a casting controversy. Prince-Bythewood embraced the movie anyway, which makes the gap between author and adaptation impossible to miss even as the trailer moves the project into public view.
The next clear milestone is Jan. 15, when Children of Blood and Bone is scheduled to open in theaters. By then, the question will not be whether the film exists, but whether the version Prince-Bythewood fought for can stand on its own after years of near misses and off-screen friction.
