It seems that Hollywood can’t seem to get enough of Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Adichie. In 2013, Adiche’s best seller, Half of a Yellow Sun, found its way into the hand’s of Nollywood film director Biyi Bandele. The movie was able to attract Hollywood star Chiwetel Ejiofor, and British movie star Thandie Newton, both of who delivered great performances.
A year later, Ejiofor’s twelve years a slave co-star Lupita Nyong’o bought the movie rights to what she described as one of her best novels, Americanah, and it seems like she is ready to bring the movie adaptation of the book to the silver screen.
In an interview with Vogue Magazine, Lupita discussed her recent movie, US, directed by horror movie director Jordan Peele. She talked about how nervous she was making the movie. This of course is not her first block buster movie, as she played key roles in the 2013 hit movie 12 years a slave which earned her an Oscar and 2018 Black Panther, which was arguably the biggest movie of 2018. Regardless she talks about a certain factor that made her feel a bit nervous,
“Of course it dawned on me that I’m going to be the lead in [Jordan Peele’s] sophomore film – all eyes are on him; his eyes are on me. There’s a level of pressure that I experienced.” Lupita states. “I had a reverence for him, and I realised that reverence kills creativity. I had to work my way out of that to a place of respect so that I could respect myself enough to offer my talent and trust myself enough to contribute to his vision, rather than being dwarfed by it.”
In the movie Lupita plays the role of Adelaide, the matriarch of the Wilson family, and her evil twin, Red.
Towards the end of the interview Lupita talks about what’s next for her, she states:
“My dream project is finally getting to make Americanah [a 2013 novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie], which is looking very, very likely. It’s going to happen in the near future and it’s been a long time in the making and I’m very, very ripe and ready to get into that for sure.”
We can expect to see black excellence in its rawest form with Lupita taking directive charge over Adiche’s novel. Especially considering the rumour that fellow black panther star Danai Gurira, the woman who plays Okoye, T’challa’s head of security, would be featured.
For Chinedu Okafor, its all about making an impact with words, creating a profound impression on the audience with the intended narrative.
Leave a reply