“The legend of Yasuke is one of history’s best-kept secrets, the only person of non-Asian origin to become a Samurai,” Deadline quoted Boseman as saying. “That’s not just an action movie, that’s a cultural event, an exchange, and I am excited to be part of it.”

Talk of the project’s development began back in 2017, when Mike De Luca and Stephen L’Heureux claimed to be co-producing a movie based on the real-life historical character of Yasuke.

Once there, Yasuke became an indentured bodyguard to a powerful Portuguese Jesuit missionary, who in turn gave Yasuke over as a “weapon bearer and novelty” to the Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga in a diplomatic effort to appease him.

Emma McIntyre/Getty

2018 MTV Movie And TV Awards - Red Carpet

From there, the legend goes that Nobunaga awarded Yasuke the coveted title of samurai, making him the first and only non-Asian to earn such a distinction.

“People in the streets did not only gape at him,” the biographers wrote. “They bowed, heads to the earth, as they addressed him.”

RELATED VIDEO: Lupita Nyong’o, Chadwick Boseman and Janelle Monae Look Like Royalty at theBlack PantherPremiere

Doug Miro, co-creator of the Netflix seriesNarcos, will adapt the biography into the script, according to Deadline.

source: people.com