SEPTEMBER 28, 2022, LOS ANGELES, CA - I Wasn't Really Naked, a spy thriller written by Harper Jameson will be adapted by award-winning writer/director La’Chris Robinson Jordan (January 14th). Published by Level 4 Press, I Wasn't Really Naked is inspired by the true story of singer/dancer Josephine Baker and her secret war against the Nazis. Level 4 Films, the production arm of Level 4 Press, will oversee the development of the project.
“This project delivers everything you expect in an edge-of-your-seat spy thriller,”says Level 4 Executive Vice President, Randy Becker. “But it does so with a singularly unique protagonist in Josephine Baker. And La’Chris is that rare writer who can tell an important story in a truly thrilling way.”
In 1925, racism and a burgeoning career overseas drove nineteen-year-old Josephine Baker to leave America and move to Paris, where she soon became a huge hit - singing, dancing and starring in movies.
By 1937, her wild performances had become legendary, and her eccentric personal life was the talk of Paris and beyond. She was the highest paid performer in all of Europe and publicly ambivalent about the war raging around her. But Josephine knew what hatred and bigotry looked like. So, when a handsome fugitive showed up at her doorstep one night, running from the Nazis, she joined him and the French Resistance, using her celebrity to spy behind enemy lines.
At first, she carried secret messages gleaned from high-ranking French or Nazi admirers. But her clandestine work quickly escalated into a dangerous race to help America, the country she hated for its bigotry, prepare for its first mass mobilization of WWII.
“It is such an honor to be working on this project,” Jordan says. “Josephine Baker was more than an icon - she literally changed history. Her life was layered, complex and in some ways, controversial. As an entertainer, she challenged all conventions and did so in a way that made you lean into her. But very few know that she was also a spy during WWII. This aspect of Baker’s life has rarely been explored and I am so excited to bring it to life.”
This will be the second novel that Jordan has adapted for Level 4 Press. In 2021, she wrote Poe's Disciple, a horror suspense screenplay based on the book by best-selling novelist Dani Lamia (The Raven).
A 2021 BIPOC Writers Fellow and Stowe Story Labs alum, Jordan has won numerous awards for her work, including for her short film, January 14th which recently streamed on Apple+. Her scripts have placed in several competitions including the Nicholl, the Sundance Episodic Lab, The Writers Lab NYC and the Austin Film Festival. An award-winning playwright, Jordan is currently developing her dramatic play A Moment of Faith with The Essential Theatre in Washington, D.C. under the artistic direction of S. Robert Morgan (The Wire).
Jordan is repped by Circle of Confusion.
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About La’Chris Robinson Jordan La’Chris Robinson Jordan is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter and director. She recently adapted Dani Lamia’s THE RAVEN for Level 4 Films and is now developing a spy thriller about Josephine Baker based on the novel I Wasn't Really Naked by Jameson Parker. An alum of the 2021 BIPOC Writers Fellowship and the Stowe Story Labs, La’Chris is known for writing female-led historicals and gritty dramas such as PINEY RIDGE, ROSES IN THE WATER and THE SOFTWALKERS. Her work has placed in several competitions including Nicholl (Top 10%), Sundance, AFF, and The Writers Lab, among others. She also wrote, directed and produced her debut short, JANUARY 14TH, which went on to win 50+ awards in over 75 film festivals worldwide. In her former life, La’Chris lived in Dubai, UAE, for three years and worked as a journalist for The Gulf News. Following her return to the U.S., she focused on theatre and was named ‘One of the 50 Playwrights to Watch’ by the Dramatists Guild as well as a Top 20 Semifinalist for the Playwrights Program at Juilliard. A proud Aniyunwiyan descendant of Underground Railroad conductor Charity Davis Broady, La’Chris is also a historian and genealogist who is also related to iconic filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. To learn more visit https://www.lachrisjordan.com/ or follow on Instagram or Facebook.
About Level 4 Press
Level 4 Press is a publisher of smart, cinematic, and entertaining fiction. Founded in 2006, Level 4 has won nine literary gold medals and 24 finalist awards, including Foreword Magazine’s Audiobook of the Year; Bill Fisher Award for Best New Fiction; USA Book News Best Audiobook; Indie Excellence Awards for Best Current Events Book; and Forward Magazine Book of the Year finalist. To learn more visit https://www.level4press.com or follow on Instagram.
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