Nia DaCosta will direct The Water Dancer

Nia DaCosta is to direct 'The Water Dancer'.

The 32-year-old filmmaker has been tapped to helm the adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates' best-selling novel.

The movie is backed by MGM and will be produced by Brad Pitt's Plan B and Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films production company.

'The Water Dancer' is set in the pre-Civil War South. It follows Hiram Walker, a man born into slavery who loses his mother as a child and slowly loses all memory of her.

Hiram almost drowns when he crashes a carriage into a river but is saved by a mysterious power he didn't realise he had and struggles to understand.

Winfrey had named 'The Water Dancer' as her first Oprah's Book Club selection in partnership with Apple.

Nia directed the horror remake 'Candyman' last year and has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as she is helming 'The Marvels' – the upcoming sequel to the blockbuster 'Captain Marvel'.

DaCosta also directed the 2018 film 'Little Woods' – which starred Tessa Thompson and Lily James.

'The Marvels' star Brie Larson praised Nia's work and suggested that fans can expect a wild ride with her movie.

The 'Kong: Skull Island' actress said: "I feel it's like, I wish I could talk about. I can talk about my feelings around it. I can say that... I can't say enough about how incredible our director, Nia DaCosta, is and what an honour it was to work with her, what an immense talent she is, how much I just feel like she's the future.

"And I could also say that, when I read the script for the first time, I couldn't believe what I was reading. I was like, this is bonkers."