Anika Noni Rose To Play Thandie Newton’s Twin Sister in ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’Posted by Wilson Morales
May 14, 2012
Source: Variety
Anika Noni Rose has been added to the cast of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun,’ playing the twin sister of Thandie Newton’s character.
Nigerian theatre director, playwright and novelist Biyi Bandele is making his feature film directorial debut with John Boyega, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dominic Cooper, and Nigerians Onyeka Onwenu, Genevieve Nnaji and Zack Orji also set to star in the film.
Also joining the film is British actor Joseph Mawle, who’s currently seen in HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Rose and Newton also starred in Tyler Perry’s ‘For Colored Girls,‘ which was based on Ntozake Shange‘s 1975 stage play.
‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ is based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s novel about Biafra’s struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria.
Weaving together the lives of four people swept up in the turbulence of war, Olanna (Newton) and Kainene (Rose) are glamorous twins from a wealthy Nigerian family. Returning to a privileged city life in newly independent 1960s Nigeria after their expensive English education, the two women make very different choices. Olanna shocks her family by going to live with her lover, the “revolutionary professor” Odenigbo (Ejiofor) and his devoted houseboy Ugwu (Boyega) in the dusty university town of Nsukka; Kainene turns out to be a fiercely successful businesswoman when she takes over the family interests, and surprises herself when she falls in love with Richard (Mawle) an English writer.
Preoccupied by their romantic entanglements, and a betrayal between the sisters, the events of their life loom larger than politics. However, they become caught up in the events of the Nigerian civil war, in which the lgbo people fought an impassioned struggle to establish Biafra an independent republic, ending in chilling violence which shocked the entire country and the world.
The crew includes award-winning cinematographer John de Borman (An Education, The Full Monty), production designer Andrew McAlpine (BAFTA winner for The Piano), and award-winning Nigerian songwriter Cobhams Asuquo and singer-songwriter Keziah Jones.
Filming will continue until June 23 on location in Nigeria and in London. International sales are handled by Ealing Metro.
