Entertainment of Thursday, 9 October 2014

Source: starrfmonline.com

Hollywood set to shoot Ghana's World Cup cash row movie

A US film production company, Bugeater Films has hired screenwriter Darryl Wharton-Rigby to start working on a movie to focus on Ghana's World Cup cash row.

The West African country carried a whopping amount of $3 million in cash by plane to Brazil to pay the Black Stars at the World Cup.

The Black Stars boycotted training prior to their last group game against Portugal due to a row over appearance fees.

It took President John Mahama to intervene after which the huge cash was flown into the South American country to settle the incensed players a day before the crucial game.

Bugeater Films has tasked screenwriter Darryl Wharton-Rigby to start scripting.

“Football and the players needing the money is kind of the backdrop to the story,” Wharton-Rigby told the BBC.

Adding, “But it's about the journey of a guy who is entrusted to deliver the money and what happens if he doesn't get it there in time.”

The former staff writer for celebrated US TV series Homicide: 'Life on the Street', Wharton-Rigby further revealed, “I want the guy who's the hero of the story to be from Ghana. I think there should be a hero who is African telling the story.”

Wharton-Rigby continued, “It's very much truth stranger than fiction. I saw footage of the police cars taking the money on the highway and you can just see that scene playing out in your mind with someone like Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson as the guy having to save the day. You can see all kinds of mayhem happening on the highway."

“It's 50-50 as to whether it will get made, we're still at the early stages, so we're going to take it one step at a time. Hopefully, we can write a great script and get someone who is attached to it. It's a fascinating story, and I think audiences internationally would take to it," he said.

"I can see the poster now; lots of soccer balls, a stadium and a guy on the run," Wharton-Rigby noted.