Mos Def To Do Moulin Rouge Hotel Flick

Rapper in one of three production companies teaming for film about first integrated hotel.

(August 20, 2008)
Mos Def, his brother Khalil Prescott-Bey and Rahman Prescott of Garden Grown Entertainment are teaming with two other production companies for the film "The Fabulous Moulin Rouge."

The story, according to Variety, focuses on the Moulin Rouge as the first desegregated hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Shot entirely in Dubai, "The Fabulous Moulin Rouge" will feature a fictional African-American character who rises from mob debt collector to manager of the famed venue.

Dubai-based Exwaze and Hollywood-based Hughes Capital Entertainment are the other two companies on board. Exwaze managing director Abbi Shabazz and Hughes Capital president Patrick Hughes will be producers.

While casino gambling is forbidden in Dubai, Shabazz and Hughes said they plan to erect a replica of the casino that sprang up in 1955 and closed six months later under mysterious circumstances just as it was gaining momentum and attracting singers such as Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra.

Shabazz said Dubai is ambitious about attracting film shoots, and he opened a company there to take advantage of funding opportunities as they raise money to shoot the picture late next year.