As part of their multi-year deal with Netflix, the Obamas’ production company, Higher Ground, has already released two documentaries to date: the Oscar-winning American Factory, about a Chinese billionaire who opens a factory in post-industrial Ohio, and Crip Camp, about a summer camp for teenagers with disabilities, which opened this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
And now, Collider reports, the former President and First Lady have their sights set on a scripted feature inspired by the acclaimed novel Exit West, written by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid. The book follows a young couple fleeing from an unidentified country in the Middle East and arriving in new lands — including Mykonos, London, and California — via a series of magical doors.
Collider reports that Avengers: Endgame fraternal directing duo Joe and Anthony Russo acquired the rights to Exit West in 2017, when the book was released. And President Obama included the tome in his list of favorite books of 2017.
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Higher Ground is in talks with the Russo brothers to produce the feature through their AGBO production banner, with Riz Ahmed (The Night Of) attached to star and Yann Demange (White Boy Rick) slated to direct. (Ahmen also starred in 2012’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, another Hamid adaptation). AGBO’s Mike Larocca is set to produce the film alongside Higher Ground’s Tonia Davis and Priya Swaminathan, per Collider, with the team currently on the hunt for a screenwriter.
In addition to Exit West, Higher Ground is also developing a film about abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass and a scripted anthology series based on The New York Times’ obituary column Overlooked — which seeks to highlight other figures than the white men that have dominated the Times‘ obituaries since 1851, the paper says.
