Movie adaptation starring Lupita to live up to expectations, says Trevor Noah

 Celebrated South African comedian Trevor Noah during the 40th Sharja International Book fair at UAE. (Courtesy)

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 a 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.

 Actress Lupita Nyong'o.

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

It will star the life of young Trevor who was kept mostly indoors during the early years of his life bound by extreme measures taken by his mother to hide him from a government that could take him away and punish her.

“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.

“One of the greatest gifts is to write your own story. You process so many emotions, unresolved emotions and things that shaped dreams. It was nice to be in a world to relive the moments, process the emotions and relieve the joyful moments,” he added.

Despite the fact that an in-depth account of Noah’s childhood is presented in his memoir, the author said that he never journaled the book. Instead, he narrated the story which was then compiled into a book.

“I’ve been blessed and cursed with a very good memory, which means that I can remember most of the things that happened to me in my life. A lot of people asked me why I wrote the book, or how I wrote the book and I frankly say that my friends are the reason why because they wanted me to put my stories – the ones I would share life with my audiences during my travels around the world – in a book,” said Noah.

The collection of Trevor’s personal essays put together in Born a Crime was among the 15 million books that were showcased during this year’s world’s largest Bookfair in Sharja in November.

This year, The Sharjah International Bookfair rose to become the World’s largest Book Fair bringing together 1,632 publishers from 83 countries. This milestone edition attracted the largest number of publishers and literary agents.

It hosted 85 authors and intellectuals from 22 countries who led the fair's events and activities