Reports say that Higher Ground Productions, Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, is in talks to produce a Netflix adaptation of the bestselling novel, Exit West.
The film rights for Mohsin Hamid’s novel were acquired by Joe and Anthony Russo in 2017, and Collider reported that the Russo brothers will produce the film alongside Higher Ground Productions.
Riz Ahmed is currently set to star in the adaptation. The actor recently starred in Venom as Carlton Drake, and in Rogue One as Bodhi Rook. Ahmed also recently won the Critics Award at the Berlin Film Festival for co-writing Mogul Mowgli.
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Ahmed would play Saeed, a young man who has to flee his home after a civil war breaks out. Exit West begins in an unnamed country in the Middle East, and it discusses issues surrounding the global refugee crisis. Saeed and his partner Nadia flee using magic doors that lead to different places all over the world.
The production companies are reportedly pursuing Yann Demange, director of White Boy Rick and ’71, to direct the project.
This isn’t the only new Netflix project we’ve recently heard about. Taika Waititi is making a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory series for Netflix, as well as a wholly original series about the Oompa-Loompas.
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Logan Plant is a news writer for IGN, and the Production Assistant for Nintendo Voice Chat, IGN’s weekly Nintendo show. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.
Source: IGN.com Exit West: Obamas, Russos Team for Netflix Movie Starring Riza Ahmed