Nigerian filmmaker, Mo Abudu acquires right to narrate Hushpuppi’s life story into action thriller

A Nigerian production company, EbonyLife Studios, owned by media entrepreneur and filmmaker, Mo Abudu, and two American movie producers Will Powerpacker and James Lopez have acquired the rights to produce an action thriller that will narrate the life story of the Nigerian Instagram celebrity, Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi.

The partnership which came into fruition to do production to develop an untitled project came on the heel of a Bloomberg article titled ‘The Fall of the Billionaire Gucci Master’ written by Evan Ratliff.

The movie is now set up at Universal Pictures.

Ms Abudu broke the news on Instagram on Thursday and also gave an insight into how the movie project came about.

‘‘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 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,’’ She wrote.

Will Packer Productions and Universal Pictures have 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” .

Universal Pictures, with over 100 years in the business of movie-making in Hollywood, has produced some of the biggest titles in the world.

EbonyLife Studios, on the other hand, is dedicated to creating world-class and authentic African stories, through a range of co-production deals with international studios. As a TV and feature film producer, EbonyLife has so far produced three highest-grossing movies of all time at the Nigerian box office. Their production credits include Óloture’, ‘Your Excellency’, ‘Chief Daddy’, ‘The Royal Hibiscus Hotel’ and ‘The Wedding Party 1 &2’.

Explaining about the motive behind the project, Ms Abudu said there are many lessons to be learned from good and bad stories. More importantly, she said if Nigerian filmmakers or production teams do not tell this story, someone else will.

‘‘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,’’ she said.

”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 said.

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