Nigerian superstar actress Genevieve Nnaji, today confirmed that she will feature in the film adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s best selling novel, ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’.
Nnaji will join a star-studded cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anika Noni Rose and Thandie Newton in the eagerly anticipated films. She will play the role of Ms Adebayo, another professor who develops a flirtatious relationship with her colleague Mr Odenigbo, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor.
The movie will be produced by BAFTA winning producer, Andrea Calderwood and Gail Egan and directed by Biyi Bandele, who will be making his directorial debut. Filming is scheduled to start next month but will be released in 2013.
Half of a Yellow Sun is set during the Nigerian-Biafran War of 1967 – 1970 and explores the impact of this conflict through the twisting story of a University Professor (Ejiofor) and his lover (Newton) her sister, a British ex-pat and a young houseboy. The novel won the Orange Prize for fiction.
It is the second major role that Genevieve has picked up, after she featured alongside Isaiah Washington, Vivica A Fox and Jimmy Jean-Louis in ‘Doctor Bello’, produced by Tony Abulu.