Oscar award winning Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o is grabbing news headlines across the globe. Splashed on covers of the fashion and lifestyle magazine Vogue about a month ago – were images of the sensational and charming actress. This is the second time she graces the high-profile fashion publication with an eye-catching banner La Femme Lupita: The Oscar winner sparkles from the New York stage to Star Wars.
Lupita is set to feature on Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, the seventh part of the space opera movie series. The film directed by seasoned movies director J.J. Abrams will be released in December this year.
Bryan Burk and Kathleen Kennedy pooled their production skills, with movie’s screenplay written by J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.
Other Lupita roles in pipeline include movies The Jungle Book and Queen of Katwe, the latter set for release in 2016. The Disney production is a biopic directed by Mira Nair, focusing on star pupil Phiona Mutesi, who grew up in Kampala’s Katwe slum and Robert Katende, her chess coach.
Queen of Katwe also features Selma actor David Oyelowo alongside 20 street kids cast as a group of ‘chess pioneers’. Lupita stars as Phiona’s mother, Harriet Mutesi, in this highest profile film project shot on location in Uganda since The Last King of Scotland in 2006.
The bagged an Oscar award for Forest Whitaker’s title and leading role, which depicts the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s lifestyle.
Lupita – an alumna of Maisha Film Lab, a training initiative for upcoming East African filmmakers founded by Nair – is quoted describing Queen of Katwe as “… an empowering story about what’s possible when you allow yourself to dream”.
At a press conference in Kampala, during production launch, the actress remarked: “I didn’t know that chess could make a fundamental difference in people’s lives.. it is not very often that you see a positive image of Africa on screen.”
On The Jungle Book – a Disney animated film, Lupita takes on the role of Raksha besides star-studded Hollywood cast inclusive of Scarlett Johansson [Kaa], Christopher Walken [King Louie] and Idris Alba [Shere Khan] among others.
Screenplay is a story based on a similar titled novel, written by author Rudyard Kipling. The release date of this movie directed by Jon Favrreau and producer Brigham Taylor is scheduled to hit theatres in April 2016.
