David Oyelowo to Make Directorial Debut With Disney’s ‘The Water Man’
David Oyelowo (Nightingale, Selma) takes the big step from acting to directing a movie for the first time with The Water Man, a film being produced by Disney and Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films. Oyelowo will also star in the film.
Written by Emily Needell (Tick Tock), the project was first announced in 2015, and after several delays, is finally set to begin filming this year. HNE Entertainment have learned that production on the movie will begin in April and conclude in June. Aside from Oyelowo in a lead role, the cast has not yet been fully assembled.
The Water Man is described as having elements comparable to Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me in terms of tone, with other influences like Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E. T.: The Extra-Terrestrial suggesting that the supernatural elements in this film may actually be alien in nature. The official premise is as follows:
The Water Man is a magical family drama about a precocious young boy Gunner who, in order to save his ill mother, runs away from home to find a mythic/legendary character called The Water Man, who has been rumored to be able to cheat death. While extremely close to his mother, he and his father Amos have an adversarial relationship and are forced to learn about each other as Amos goes on the search for his son.
The Water Man does not yet have a release date, and as of right now, it’s unclear if this film will be given a theatrical release window or if it will go to directly to the upcoming Disney+ streaming service. The latter seems more likely, as Disney’s focus for theatrical windows tend to be for major projects that cost upwards of $100M to complete, and it doesn’t sound like this project is going to be incredibly expensive.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
