Anthony Minghella’s adaptation of the best selling novel, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, has gained a couple of men to go with the No. 1 Ladies. David Oyelowo, from Last King of Scotland, Idris Elba, aka Stringer Fuckin’ Bell from The Wire,Tony Award winners Winston Ntshona and John Kani and Die Another Day’s Colin Salmon (there’s an ass-fish joke in there) are joining Jill Scott and Aniki Noni in the first major production ever shot entirely in Botswana.
The book, by Alexander McCall Smith, is the first in a series about the detecting adventures of Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s only private detective. Living on the edge of the Kalahari, Precious solves many mysteries like the multiple personalitied doctor or the missing Christian or the kidnapped boy whose bones may be in a witch doctor’s kit.
What’s interesting about this is that it’s being seen as a backdoor pilot for a TV show – that’s right, Anthony Minghella’s doing a pilot. I know that his last two films were not well-received, but I do hope this is an artistic decision on his part and not a financial one. I don’t know where this would possibly air, but it begins shooting next week.