Lupita Nyong’o’s star continues to rise in Hollywood. After joining the cast of Star Wars VII it has been reported that she will produce and star in an adaptation of the novel Americanah. Nyong’o will work with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, which also produced 12 Years A Slave. Prior to her Oscar winning role as Patsey, Nyong’o directed, edited, and produced the documentary In My Genes in her home country of Kenya.
Americanah, from Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, follows two Nigerian youths. Ifemelu, a young woman who emigrates to America to study, while her childhood friend Obinze, unable to join her, struggles to make ends meet in London. While the two find success and happiness abroad, they still find themselves drawn both to their homeland and to each other. The novel won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award. Nyong’o said that she is honored by the opportunity to help adapt Americanah,
“Page after page, I was struck by Ifemelu and Obinze’s stories, whose experiences as African immigrants are so specific and also so imminently relatable. It is a thrilling challenge to tell a truly international story so full of love, humor and heart.”
Plan B will collaborate with D2 Productions and Potboiller Productions on Americanah, no release date has been announced.
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