Actress Lupita Nyong'o says she hounded Chimamanda for years over Americanah

She recently acquired the rights to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s award-winning novel, Americanah. Additionally, she will produce and star in the production which is to be a series.

During an interview with Another, Lupita revealed that she hounded Chimamanda for years for the rights to Americanah.

“In fact, just before 12 Years came out, I pre-ordered that book and I could not put it down. To see an African woman whose identity was in a flux in the way that Ifemelu’s is in the book just spoke so deeply to me. I could not stop thinking about it so I immediately contacted her.

I had no stars or stripes to my name except, ‘I’m an actress from Kenya and I read your book and I love it and I’m going to be in this movie called 12 Years a Slave.’ I had no idea what that meant anyway, but I knew I wanted to make this.” Lupita said.

Fellow Black Panther actress and award-winning playwright, Danai Gurira is writing the script for the series. On why its a series and not a movie, Lupita said:

“It’s very hard to reduce just to a movie. We discovered that, while we were trying to adapt it, we needed more time.

It’s been a long journey with Americanah, but I feel like projects come to be in their own time, in their right time. We’re very near, we’re so close to a production date and that’s really exciting.”