EXCLUSIVE: Fugees co-founder Pras Michel has teamed with Karyn Rachtman to land The Search For Johnny Nicholas: The Secret of Nazi Prisoner No. 44451, a book by Dave C. Smith and Hugh Wray McCann that tells an unbelievable story of a Haitian man imprisoned in a concentration camp in WWII. Jean Claude LaMarre will write the script. Haitian born Johnny Nicholas was a savant and con man who moved to Paris and lived the high life under the guise of being an American fighter pilot, doctor and movie producer. Hoodwinking his way into Parisian society, he caused quite a stir romancing the aristocratic white society women while thumbing his nose at Nazi occupied France. After a scorned lover betrayed him to the SS. Nicholas was arrested and put in Camp Mittelbau- Dora, a German concentration camp buried deep beneath the Harz Mountains. Utilizing his ability to exploit and manipulate situations, he impersonates and becomes a doctor to the Jewish slave laborers living in unbearable conditions. He became an unsung hero who saved the lives of hundreds of Jews during their incarceration.
Rachtman is the music supervisor who did Reservoir Dogs, Moulin Rouge, and Clueless, and she and Michel teamed on the award winning documentary Sweet Micky for President. They will produce this together under the PRASperity Films banner, while LaMarre will produce with his Nulite Entertainment shingle. Aside from the book, the movie will be based on actual files from the concentration camp and real life accounts from survivors.
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