Photo: Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images
The film adaptation of The Children of Blood and Bone is getting messy. Author Tomi Adeyemi says she wants nothing to do with the Paramount Pictures adaptation of her best-selling novel. “Why don’t you post about the adaptation of your first film anymore?” Adeyemi wrote in a TikTok caption. “There is a reason I will not post anything about the adaptation of my work.” She includes a screenshot of a conversation with Amandla Stenberg, who’s starring in the movie, in which she blocked her after Stenberg told her not to mention her name in interviews. Adeyemi says she hasn’t seen the movie and doesn’t plan to.
Last year, Stenberg received criticism for her casting as Princess Amari, as the character is described as having “dark copper skin” in the book, with some fans feeling disappointed as they had hoped an actress from Nigeria would have been selected to play the part. “I just want to take this moment to fully address, in video format, this perception that exists of me — that I steal roles from dark-skinned women,” Stenberg said at the time. “This year was mostly defined for me, honestly, by contending with what it felt like to receive racist death threats just for existing in the Star Wars universe, and that was a really difficult thing for me to move through. But, honestly, it feels so much more painful for me to feel like I’m at odds with my own community.”
The adaptation stars Stenberg, Thuso Mbedu, Viola Davis, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tosin Cole, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Lashana Lynch, Idris Elba, and Regina King. It’s directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and follows Zélie Adebola (Thuso Mbedu) in the fantasy African kingdom of Orïsha, based on an uncolonized Nigeria.
Sign up for the Vulture Daily
An entertainment newsletter for the pop-culture obsessed.
Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice
Related