This is an important question before the principal photography for the biopic on the Afrobeat legend the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti begins.


There are words going round that famous British Nigerian actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Half of a Yellow Sun, Dirty Pretty Things, Serenity, Inside Man, American Gangster, Talk to Me, Children of Men) is being tipped to play late king of Afrobeat Fela Anikulapo Kuti (15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997) in a biopic to be directed by Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Shame, Hunger) or Andrew Dosunmu (Restless City, Mother of George). But I don’t think Ejiofor can play Fela, because I doubt if he would be able to capture the Nigerian street characteristics of Fela and speak the raw Pidgin English of Fela too. The best bet is to use a born and bred in Nigeria actor like Dede Mabiaku, who even acts Fela better than Femi Kuti and Seun, the sons of the enigmatic and iconic musician.


Dede Mabiaku epitomizes the art and spirit of “Felasophy” of the legendary King of Afrobeat and was his protégé for more than a decade and bonded with him and Fela’s Egypt 80 band as Dede was on tour with Fela for several years. So, if there is anyone who can really play the role of Fela on stage or cinema, it is Dede Mabiaku who is also a talented award winning actor.


The guy Sahr Ngaujah who played Fela in the critically acclaimed and successful 2009 Broadway musical “Fela!” is the American version of Fela and even the Afrobeat King would have been more amused than be thrilled, because Sahr Ngaujah could not dance like Fela in “Fela!”. The musical was Off-Broadway for one month in 2008 before it premiered on Broadway on November 23, 2009. The Off-Broadway production won the Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Musical, Outstanding Choreographer for Bill T. Jones, and Outstanding Costume Design for Marina Draghici. The Broadway production received eleven 2010 Tony Award nominations and won Best Choreography, Best Costume Design of a Musical, and Best Sound Design of a Musical. But when it comes to making the biopic, Dede Mabiaku should be the best bet.

http://totnaija..com/2013/09/who-can-play-fela-best-chiwetel-ejiofor.html

none of them..
Fela is our icon..let them not spoil his character for us ooo!

Wow wow wow this would be great. A Fela biopic? Can't wait.

Chiwetel of course! he even has Fela's skin color.

Dede is already old.

Forest whitaker

khanivorous: Forest whitaker

Forest whitaker...!?
Are you kidding me...?
**holds his belly and laffs like Father christmas**
..ohh..ohh..ohh..ohh.!

Use Akinnuoye Akingbaje then!!!!

dede

pete edochie should be the prime candidate for this role.

amechi monagou lol

When a great man die his legacy lives on Fela is a good example

Chiwetel will bring a lot of class to the character of Fela.

prof800:
Forest whitaker...!?
Are you kidding me...?
**holds his belly and laffs like Father christmas**
..ohh..ohh..ohh..ohh.!

i think forest whitaker will do a good job.
my only worry is that he may have to shed heck load of weight.
this shouldnt be a problem though.
50 cent dropped the pounds to star in "Things Fall Apart," in which he plays a cancer-ridden football player.
christain bale did same in to star in "The Machinist
tom hanks in cast away.

i remember forest whitaker had to move to uganda for months to learn the language and way of life.

Nigerian actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Half of a Yellow Sun, Dirty Pretty Things, Serenity, Inside Man, American Gangster, Talk to Me, Children of Men)

then

Nigeria actor like Dede Mabiaku, who even acts Fela better than Femi Kuti and Seun, the sons of the enigmatic and iconic musician.

you didn't list the films he's been involved in.....



you are underestimating someones professionalism, actors from different parts of the world play russian mafia, Southside american gangsters, British cockney thugs etc etc

The film will be made not in the typical Nigerian time frame of 2weeks-2months so theres plenty of time to learn and speak pidgin

The chiwetel guy has a little resemblance with fela!
but the only problem is that would he be able to speak pidgin?

chiwetel is cute....use him! use him! use him!

Please can someone tell me the difference between fela's look and Olamide's look. Is fela the father of Olamide or his Olamide a reincarnation of Fela. :I mean they just look alike to me.

Chiwetel Ejiofor!!!

#CaseClosed

Saka

I can do it

yuzedo:
P.s. No homo, but Chinwetel handsome AF! Lawd!

He's not that handsome
Mtchew

Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Dede isn't an actor plus he's old now.

I have doubts Chiwetel can capture the essential nigerianisms in Fela's character sha.

Dede is a good actor and looks so much like fela both in character and facially. But he really needs to loose weight to fit into the role.

Dede of dede

'Mother of George' Helmer Andrew Dosunmu to Direct Music Drama 'Fela Kuti'

Focus' biopic will profile the life of the Nigerian musician in the 1970s.

Andrew Dosunmu will direct Focus Features' drama Fela Kuti, a biopic about the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician.

Based on the source material in Michael Veal’s 2000 book, Fela: The Life and Times of An African Musical Icon, the film will chronicle the life of Fela, who was not only one of the founders of the musical movement of Afrobeat, a fusion of jazz, funk, psychedelic rock and Yoruba chants and rhythms, but also pushed boundaries in art and life in the 1970s.

A native of Nigeria, Dosunmu's latest film was Mother of George, starring Isaach De Bankole and Danai Gurira, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically by Oscilloscope in September. His documentary Hot Irons (1999) won the Reel Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and Best Documentary at FESPACO, Africa’s largest film festival. His debut fiction feature, Restless City, world-premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically by Screen Media Films in 2012.

Teresa Moneo, Focus' executive vice president international production, is supervising Fela Kuti for president of production, Jeb Brody. Lydia Dean Pilcher and Leigh Blake are producing the Cine Mosaic production.

Nigerian poet Chris Abani and Focus CEO James Schamus have written the most recent drafts of the movie’s screenplay.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mother-george-helmer-andrew-dosunmu-629909

Make dem do quick make man get a copy and pirate the movie for naija,cotonou and ghana

Who the hell is Dede Mabiaku? Is it the same senile Dede the Deridegull of nl?

Anyway, it should be between Chiwetel Ejiofor and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Adewale shouldn't have a problem playing Fela Kuti because he has played naija characters loads of times. Adebisi in Oz and Mr. Eko in Lost. He speaks the language and he can bring his own dimension into it, like he did with "Adebisi" in Oz.

We can throw Idris Elba in there since he's a big fan of Fela Kuti as well and he tweets in pigeon English sometimes.

How Chiwetel wan take speak pidgin english.

How Chiwetel wan take speak pidgin english. Just imagine him saying ''I NO BE GENTLEMAN ATALL''

Terrance Howard is better choice