Serial Nollywood producer Mo Abudu has announced that her company, Ebony Life is partnering with the Will Packer Production and Universal Studios to make a movie out of Hushpuppi’s internet fraud case to be titled “The Fall of the Billionaire Gucci Master”.
Mo Abudu who revealed this in a post on her Instagram page said that she pitched the story idea to Will Packer productions in 2020 with reports suggesting that the project is said to be an action thriller hybrid of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Catch Me If You Can’ and Bryan Singer’s ‘The Usual Suspects’.
The movie will be produced by James Lopez for Will Packer and Abudu for Ebonylife and according to the brains behind it, there is a lot to learn from the story of the Nigerian fraudster.
“When the Hushpuppi story made headlines last year, I pitched the story idea to @willpowerpacker and James Lopez. They bought the idea and as headlined in this press release, together we won the rights to the Bloomberg article by Evan Ratliff mentioned above.
“The rights were won after a highly contested derby by several producers and is now set up at Universal Pictures. The globetrotting action thriller project is said to be a hybrid of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN and USUAL SUSPECTS. It’s a dream come true to be working with WIll Packer Productions and Universal Pictures on this project.
”Just as a refresher, Will Packer Productions and Universal Pictures need no introductions. WPP has released a number of blockbusters that include …… ‘‘Girls Trip”, “Think Like a Man Too”, “Ride Along”, “Think Like a Man”, “Takers”, “Obsessed”, “Breaking In” and “Stomp the Yard” and Universal Pictures with over a 100 years in the business of movie making in Hollywood, have produced some of the biggest titles in the world. I cannot contain my excitement.
READ ALSO: INTERNET FRAUD: US court says Hushpuppi will be sentenced in October
“Further to the announcement just made about our partnership with Will Packer Productions and Universal Pictures, some of you might ask, why do we choose to tell a story like this?
“Firstly, there are many lessons to be learnt from good and bad stories.
“Secondly if we do not tell this story, someone else will and to ensure that this story is told with authenticity, a Nigerian storyteller with our pedigree needs to be involved.
“Too often, these types of characters are one-dimensional and feed into the worst stereotypes.
“Hushpuppi’s story is based on a real person whose story is already partly known to the world but the film gives us a real chance to tell a cautionary tale about a character formed by his environment and life choices.
“The films of Martin Scorsese are a great example of a filmmaker telling richly layered stories of criminal characters from his heritage that we’ve all grown to love, without ever creating the impression that all Italian-Americans are members of the mafia. Needless to say, all Nigerians are not 419 scam artists,” she concluded.
