Mohsin Hamid's 'Exit West' to be made into film by Obamas for Netflix

Former US president and first lady’s production will adapt British-Pakistani author's novel, which will star Riz Ahmed

LOS ANGELES:

Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company on Friday announced six new projects in development for Netflix Inc, including a love story with a supernatural twist and a young adult thriller.

The former president and first lady’s Higher Ground Productions will adapt British-Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid’s novel Exit West into a film, according to a statement from Netflix. The book tells the story of a young couple who find magical doors to transport them to other places and land in the middle of a global refugee crisis. According to The New York Times, the upcoming project will star the Pakistani-British actor Riz Ahmed. 

Other film projects include a science-fiction movie called Satellite, which will be produced with T Street, a production company run by Star Wars director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman. Another is Tenzing, the story of the Nepalese-Indian man who first reached the summit of Mount Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand.

The Young Wife is a feature film that follows a woman on the day of her wedding who feels out of sync as a storm approaches.

The company also is developing two TV series. Firekeeper’s Daughter is a thriller based on a young adult novel by Angeline Boulley about an 18-year-old Ojibwe tribe member who reluctantly goes undercover in a police investigation on her reservation.

The other series is a nature documentary about national parks.

Netflix said the projects will be released over the next few years but did not give exact release dates.

The Obamas signed a multiyear production deal with Netflix in 2018. Their earlier Netflix projects include “American Factory,” which won an Oscar in 2020 for best documentary.