Trevor Noah upbeat on Lupita playing his mum

Celebrated South African comedian Trevor Noah has hinted that the much-awaited movie adaptation of his memoir Born a Crime will live up to expectations.

Trevor said this during the 40th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair in the United Arab Emirates.

He said the movie starring Lupita Nyong’o is set to “do justice to the book”. The best-selling book is a collection of humorous stories starring the life of Noah during the apartheid period in South Africa.

“We are making sure that the movie does justice to the book. The saddest thing is when movies do not sound and feel like the book,” Trevor hinted.

Born a Crime tells the story of a mischievous young Trevor, who was born and grew up in a poor home. The story tells of Noah’s struggles in a world where he was never supposed to exist.

In the movie adaptation, Lupita will play the role of Trevor’s fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother who is determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence and abuse.

Lupita will play the role of a woman Trevor says is the heroine in his life, the woman he says shaped his dreams and inspired the writing of his book.

“I am lucky to be my mother’s son. My mother always made sure we had books. She is the reason I am here and she is the hero in my story,” Trevor said.

The anticipated movie will bring to fore resilience through religion, education, racism and the cycle of poverty through humour.

“Writing the book was terrifying. Your first instinct is always to make yourself a hero and I had promised to set the truth. At some point, I was genuinely embarrassed growing in a poor home and witnessing domestic violence. Most of us as human beings have issues, obstacles yet the world has conditioned us to put on bright smiling faces,” he added.

While the stories are humorously told by Trevor whose birth itself during the apartheid period was a crime born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother, which at the time was punishable by five years in prison, he says writing his own story shaped his career.