Mo-Abudu, Will Packer, Win Rights To Produce Movie On Hushpuppi

Nigerian Movie Producer Mo Abudu and Will Packer have been granted rights to co-produce one of Bloomberg’s articles, fall of “The Billionaire Gucci Master” based on the true-life story of incarcerated Nigerian fraudsters, Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi.

The film maker made this known through her Instagram page, stating that she gave the story idea to Will Packer and James Lopez sometime in 2020.

She wrote: “EbonyLife Studios is partnering with Will Packer Productions to develop an untitled project based on the Bloomberg article ‘The Fall of Billionaire Gucci Master’ by Evan Ratliff.

“When the Hushpuppi story made headlines last year, I pitched the story idea to @willpowerpacker and James Lopez.

“They bought the idea and as headlined in this press release, together we won the rights to the Bloomberg article by Evan Ratliff mentioned above.

“The rights were won after a highly contested derby by several producers and is now set up at Universal Pictures.

“The globe-trotting action thriller project is said to be a hybrid of ‘catch me if you can’ and ‘Unusual suspect’.

“It is a dream come true to be working with Will Packer Productions and Universal Pictures on this project.”

The film maker further explained why they want to make movie out of the lifestyle of scammer using that of Hushpuppi and the need to see that all Nigerians are not ‘419 scam artist’

She added, “Further to the announcement just made about our partnership with Will Packer Productions and Universal Pictures, some of you might ask, why do we choose to tell a story like this?

“Firstly, there are many lessons to be learnt from good and bad stories.

“Secondly if we do not tell this story, someone else will and to ensure that this story is told with authenticity, a Nigerian storyteller with our pedigree needs to be involved.

“Too often, these types of characters are one-dimensional and feed into the worst stereotypes. Hushpuppi’s story is based on a real person whose story is already partly known to the world, but the film gives us a real chance to tell a cautionary tale about a character formed by his environment and life choices.

“The films of Martin Scorsese are a great example of a filmmaker telling richly layered stories of criminal characters from his heritage that we’ve all grown to love, without ever creating the impression that all Italian-Americans are members of the mafia. Needless to say, all Nigerians are not 419 scam artists.”