Mira Nair in the director’s chair…
Lupita Nyong’o (‘Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens,’ ’12 Years A Slave’) and David Oyelowo (‘Selma,’ ‘Interstellar’) are reportedly in talks for the Disney’s ‘Queen of Katwe.’
With ‘Amelia’ helmer Mira Nair behind the camera, the film tells the story of chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi, who emerged out of a slum in Uganda to reach the World Chess Olympiad.
Deadline has Nyong’o up for the role of Phiona’s mother, Harriet Mutesi, with Oyelowo in line to portray Mutesi’s coach-mentor Robert Katende.
Production is expected to kick off in the spring in South Africa and Uganda with Nair directing from a script by her ‘Reluctant Fundamentalist’ scribe William Wheeler.