It might be best known for its George Gershwin-created stage version, but Porgy And Bess began life as a novel by DuBose Heyward in 1925. Now, after a number of adaptations, Mudbound director Dee Rees is setting up a new cinematic interpretation.
The story is set in the slums of Charleston, SC. There in Catfish Row, a disabled beggar named Porgy tries to rescue Bess from her violent lover Crown, and drug dealer Sportin’ Life. Gershwin, working with Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin, brought his take to the stage in 1935 and Otto Preminger made it into an Oscar-winning film in 1959, with Sidney Poitier playing Porgy and Dorothy Dandridge as Bess. Rees, though has her own perspective on it.
"Porgy And Bess is at its core, a love story," Rees tells Deadline. "So I’m very excited to take on the challenge of this highly venerated, iconic material and lift the architecture of this unlikely love story and re-site it at a place and moment of resistance. With the help of a terrific artistic team, my vision is to invest this community with a new agency and re-locate the characters from a fictional landscape mostly viewed from the outside to a real geography with actual historical and cultural roots, relevance, and consequence and that has been built and lived from the inside.
"By accessing the spirit of the lyrics as they’ve been conjured, reinterpreted, and rearranged by greats like Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, I’m most excited about inviting today’s brightest musical talents to lend new voice and spirit to both the joys and the frustrations of the ongoing struggle of African American citizens in this country. In this new adaptation, I’m hoping to raise the stakes for our hero and heroine, giving them full expression of existence placing emphasis not just on the circumstantial but on their rich inner lives and emotional pasts."
She'll work with producer Irwin Winkler to bring it to the screens and we can only imagine the cast she'll gather. Rees' latest, The Last Thing He Wanted, will release via Netflix on the 21st of this month.