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In a world where oil is nearly as valuable as gold, it is not unheard of for powerful governments to take greed to flight and attempt control. Such was the case in Equatorial Guinea, a small country in Africa whose rich oil fields proved too tempting for the British neocolonialist establishment to resist. This true story of a failed coup was chronicled in Adam Roberts’ book The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa just released in August of this year, and already picked up by Miramax Films.
The story reads like a Graham Greene novel, but is unmistakably true. Roberts tells the tale of a plot by foreign mercenaries and greedy profiteers to overthrow the country’s decidedly brutal dictatorship not for the purpose of humanitarianism, but solely for the “wonga” (British slang for “money, usually lots of it”). Miramax announced that Jason Blum of Blumhouse would produce the feature adaptation along with Beth O’Neil. Blum formerly produced “Hysterical Blindness” and “The Fever” for HBO Pictures.
The coup was led by self-styled adventurers in the guise of British gentlemen and included Margaret Thatcher’s son, Sir Mark Thatcher, and “rag-and-bone intelligence men” lingering in the bars of hotels, “picking up scraps of information… selling them on to willing buyers, whether corporate or government.” Blum brought the deal to Miramax after a pass from Paramount where he has a first view deal. No production dates have yet been announced.
