Lupita Nyong’o is teaming-up with “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah. The Hollywood Reporter confirms that the Oscar-winning actress has signed on to topline a film adaptation of the comedian’s memoir, “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.” Released in 2016, the best-seller is described as “an account of growing up under apartheid rule in South Africa but also a love letter to his mother,” whom the “12 Years a Slave” star will play.
“Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison,” the book’s description details. “Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.”
Noah and Nyong’o are among the project’s producers. “Born a Crime” doesn’t have a writer or director yet.
Nyong’o can currently be seen in box office smash “Black Panther.” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Queen of Katwe,” and “The Jungle Book” are among her previous credits. She is the author of “Sulwe,” which means “star” in her native language, Luo. Set for release next year, the children’s picture book follows a young Kenyan girl who wants to lighten her dark complexion. Along the way, she learns that beauty is not a specific standard, but is instead all-encompassing and much more than a physical construct.
