It’s confirmed Idris Elba is more than an executive producer on this project. He’s also going to play the protagonist, Okonkwo. While we will give anything to see Elba shirtless, playing Nna Anyi in this series, we just think of ourselves as better suited to do the casting for A24. Anyway, we found our own Okonkwo and other actors that’d eat up the major characters in Things Fall Apart.
Gentle Jack as Okonkwo
Veteran actor Gentle Jack isn’t only an actor who speaks Igbo fluently, he’s also an impressive act. His no-nonsense face, big-chief moustache, height, and big body build capture the Okonkwo profile so well. He has a firm baritone to match, too. Perfect.
Emeka Nwagbaraocha as Nwoye
This is a mummy’s boy who became a hard guy because his daddy’s a big bully. Our money’s on Emeka to balance Nwoye’s character development with an appropriate amount of emotional turbulence.
Chiwetalu Agu as Unoka
This is Okonkwo’s lazy and spendthrift father and Nwoye’s grandfather. Think of an actor who’d play someone who’s too cowardly to be a warrior but would conveniently walk around the village and borrow money—no one’s touching the legend of Chiwetalu Agu.
Jide Kene Achufusi as Ikemefuna
If there’s a perfect “son” for Okonkwo and a macho role model for Nwoye, no one’s playing it better than Jide Kene. Trust him to make Nwoye sharp quickly.
Uzoamaka Aniunoh as Ezinma
With her dove eyes and collected demeanour, Uzoamaka as Ezinne is the perfect character to be a soft spot of Okonkwo. Sweet and assertive is what this role needs. She’s got those.
Rita Edochie as Ekwefi
Ekwefi is Ezinma’s mum. We’ve seen the mother-daughter chemistry between Uzoamaka Aniunoh and Rita Edochie in CJ Obasi’s Mami Wata (2023), and we’re confident they can take it up a notch in a Things Fall Apart show.
Kelechi Udegbe as Enoch
Kelechi Udegbe is the best fit to play a popular fanatic Christian in a village of traditional worshippers. If you’ve seen Kelechi in Mami Wata as a revolt leader (Jabi), or as a passionate police officer (Corporal) in Collision, you’d know that no one applies zealotry like he does.
Jennifer Eliogu as Chielo
She’s the priestess. Please, leave this role for her.
Fans and haters of Okonkwo gather here. The 1958 book Things Fall Apart by the iconic literary mind Chinua Achebe is coming to life again as a TV series. The classic was first brought to life as a film in 1971 and as a miniseries in 1987 with Pete Edochie playing the brutal strongman, Okonkwo.
What has happened so far
The news was first reported by Variety Magazine on Thursday. According to Variety, the new Things Fall Apart series is still in development by the American production studio, A24. Ghanaian DJ and actor Idris Elba is leading the project as executive producer through his new 22Summers production company. Nigerian British actor, David Oyelowo and the creative executive Amanda N’Duka will serve as executive producers through their Yoruba Saxon production company. Ben Forkner, Dayo Ogunyemi, and Achebe Masterworks are also executive producers. A writer has not been announced for the project yet. A network or streaming service has not officially come on board yet.
Cast
While most of the cast has not been announced as the series is still in development, it has been confirmed that Idris Elba will play Okonkwo.
Synopsis
Things Fall Apart is set in the precolonial Igbo society of Umuofia. It follows the rise of Okonkwo to the top of his society as a wealthy farmer and his fall with the invasion of the colonisers. The book, which has been translated into over 60 languages, has been lauded as one of the first authentic novels about Nigeria. It won the Nigerian National Merit Award and the Man Booker International Prize. It is the first book of Achebe’s African Trilogy, which includes No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God respectively.
In March 2024, film executive, Mo Abudu, announced a collaboration with Hollywood actor, Idris Elba, which would see him take the director’s chair on her short film project, Dust To Dream.
Weeks after the announcement, filming has wrapped on the project, and here’s what we know so far.
The plot
Dust To Dreams follows the relationship between a mother and her teenage daughter, and how they navigate her first encounter with her father. The father, a long-lost soldier must confront new realities as he reunites with his family after a long time away from home.
The Cast
Directed by Idris-Elba, the project features performances from some of Nollywood’s finest actors.
Nse Nkpe Etim
She plays Milli, a Lagos nightclub owner.
Seal
The British-Nigerian musician plays a soldier.
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Eku Edewor
She plays Comfort, Milli’s (Nse Nkpe Etim) sister.
Atlanta Bridget Johnson
She plays Patience, Milli’s (Nse Nkpe Etim) sister.
Constance Olatunde
The former Nigerian Idol contestant plays Bisola, Milli’s (Nse Nkpe Etim) daughter.
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Behind-the-scenes
Some of the actors have shared BTS photos, giving fans a glimpse into their characters and what to expect when the film is released. The BTS stills also indicate the film was shot in parts of Lagos Island and the mainland.
When and where will it be released?
There’s no word about the project’s potential release date or if it will be available on a streaming platform. However, if it’s anything like Abudu’s previous short films, My Perfect Life and Iyawo Mi, it should enjoy cinema festival runs.
Tanzania’s rapidly growing ‘Bongo’ film industry is going full steam ahead, with British actor, Idris Elba, planning a major studio in the country.
British actor Idris Elba plans to open a major film studio in Tanzania after holding initial talks with President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Tanzanian’s Director of Presidential Communications, Zuhura Yunus, recently made this announcement during a media briefing session on the outcome of President Hassan’s trip to the 53rd World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“The president met with Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina, and they are keen to invest in a film studio in Tanzania,” said Yunus.
“Discussions on the project have just begun, and if successful, the project will help not only Tanzania but also Eastern and Central Africa,” she added.
Elba, who was born in Britain to a Ghanaian mother and a Sierra Leonean father, has previously spoken about his plans to help develop the film industry on the continent.
“Young Africans view me as a leader or a beacon. And I feel like I could bring something. So I’m keen to bring what I’ve learned in media and amplify it in Africa,” he told South Africa’s SA People in August last year.
And while this recent news is a shot in the arm for the country, Tanzania has worked hard over the years to package and position its film industry for international success.
Despite having low budgets and limited production skills and equipment, the country’s filmmakers have matured the local ‘bongo’ films to rival Nigeria’s Nollywood and Kenya’s Riverwood.
In September 2021, Vuta N’kuvute made history by becoming the first Tanzanian feature film to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival. It has also been screened at various festivals in Germany, South Africa, the USA, Brazil, Switzerland and Tanzania.
The Swahili film, which tells the story of a young woman whose romance blossoms on the back of a political revolt woman during the final years of British colonial Zanzibar, won the Tanit d’Or at the prestigious Carthage Film Festival in Tunis.
It also took home four awards at the 18th edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards, held in October 2022 in Lagos. It won the Oumarou Ganda Prize for Best Fiction at FESPACO 2021 and the Special Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival 2022.
The most significant success for the film, however, came in September 2022, when it became Tanzania’s official entry for the Oscars 2023 Academy Awards under the Best International Feature Film category.
“The future of Tanzanian cinema is finally in our hands. A wave of Swahili filmmakers is growing every day with pride, intelligence and boldness,” said Amil Shivji, the film’s co-producer.
Tanzania also saw three of its films streamed on Netflix in 2022, marking a great start in the international market. Binti, produced by Angela Ruhinda, became the first Swahili movie streamed on Netflix, followed by Bahasha and Nyara: The Kidnapping (2020), respectively.
But Tanzania’s prolific film industry did not start with the Bongo films and movies in the early 2000s.
The industry dates back to 1961 when the government of the new nation of Tanzania established the Government Film Unit in 1963, the Tanzania Film Company in 1968, and the Audio Visual Institute in 1974.
These institutions produced, distributed, and exhibited films, albeit films that propagated the Ujamaa socialist policies of president Julius Nyerere’s government.
Over the years, the government has continued to support the film industry with incentives and new regulations.
The Tanzania Film Board, in October 2022, embarked on a programme to coordinate the production of films with local strategic content featuring the country’s richness in several avenues to market the country’s attraction.
“We want a vibrant and aggressive film industry,…we are training the local producers to enhance quality, competitiveness and national identity films,” said the film board’s executive secretary, Kiagho Kilonzo.
The government also reduced filming permit fees to help filmmakers produce high-quality movies. According to the new regulations, filmmakers pay US$21 to get a filming permit, down from the previous US$215.
Non-profits like the Zanzibar International Film Festival, established in 1997, have also continued promoting Tanzania’s film industry.
The annual festival screens approximately 70 domestic and foreign productions and hosts capacity-building sessions for upcoming filmmakers, including workshops, masterclasses, debates and network events.
In a 2021 report, the UN cultural agency, UNESCO, revealed that Africa’s film and audio-visual industries could create over 20 million jobs and contribute US$20 billion to the continent’s combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Market and consumer data company Statista says that Africa produces about 5,500 films per year, of which Tanzania manages around 500 yearly.
According to the Tanzanian Minister of Culture, Arts and Sports, Mohamed Mchengerwa, the country has at least 30,000 people employed in the filmmaking business, and the entertainment and arts industry contributes at least 19.4 per cent to the economy.
Can you see this really fine man called Idris Elba?
When he’s not being a flawless man…
He’s delivering an awesome acting performance.
And this video of him rapping in a song with Phyno and Ghana’s VVIP recently dropped and he totally slayed.
