Emma Needell Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Netflix and RLJE films have picked up the worldwide rights to The Water Man, Selma star David Oyelowo's directorial debut. RLJE Films has taken the adventure, fantasy pic for North America, while Netflix has the rest of the world rights.

David Oyelowo’s The Water Man, the family adventure film that marks the actor’s feature directorial debut, has been acquired by RLJE Films and Netflix. The pic, which bowed at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival, will now hit U.S. theaters and Premium VOD on May 7 via RLJE, with Netflix releasing the film later this year internationally.

“I was only going to be starring and producing it initially, but we actually lost our original director and it was Emma Needell, who wrote the film and worked with us on developing the film for four years who said ‘I think you should be the one to make this,'” Oyelowo told TheWrap’s Steve Pond. “The Water Man” stars Lonnie Chavis as a boy whose mother (Rosario Dawson) has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Selma star David Oyelowo says his directorial debut, The Water Man, was inspired by his childhood and aims in part to allow Black kids to see themselves on the big screen. "I made it for my 12-year-old self.