‘Rise’ Director Akin Omotoso Hatches ‘Plot to Save South Africa,’ Based on Gripping, Real-Life Account of Country’s Narrow Escape From Civil War (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias Akin Omotoso, the filmmaker behind Disney Plus’ Giannis Antetokounmpo biopic “Rise,” has been attached to direct “The Plot to Save South Africa,” an adaptation of Justice Malala’s gripping book about a 1990s white supremacist plot that almost plunged the young democracy into civil war. “The Plot to Save South Africa” will be produced by Johannesburg-based production outfit Ochre Moving Pictures, which signed a deal with Netflix last year to adapt multiple books for the streaming service alongside Omotoso. “Plot,” however, is not included in that deal, and is part of an existing partnership between Ochre and Omotoso that includes a crime drama adaptation of Nigerian playwright Femi Osofisan’s novel “Pirates.” The story begins in 1993, as Nelson Mandela has just been released after 27 years in prison and is in power-sharing talks with President F.W.

de Klerk. After decades of resistance, the apartheid regime seems poised to fall, until a white supremacist shoots and kills Mandela’s popular heir apparent, Chris Hani, in a last-ditch effort to start a civil war.

Written by Malala, then a 22-year-old rookie journalist who was one of the first to arrive at the crime scene, “The Plot to Save South Africa” follows the growing chaos of the next nine days, when a nation on the brink was gripped with fear that the assassin’s plot might succeed. “When Justice told me the premise of his new book years ago, I knew that it would be a project I would love to direct,” Omotoso told Variety. “Justice’s informed and passionate, first-hand rendition of factual events reads like a top-notch thriller (a genre I love) and brilliantly captures a moment forever etched into my mind (and of everyone living in South Africa at.