Gerard Butler 'to play Simon Mann in Wonga Coup film'

THE STORY of Old Etonian Simon Mann's failed attempt to overthrow the government in Equatorial Guinea in 2004 – often called the Wonga Coup - could be made into a film by Ridley Scott, director of Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and Alien.

The driving force behind the project is the Scottish actor Gerard Butler who, according to the Mail on Sunday, is keen to play the role of Mann, the mercenary who spent nearly six miserable years in jail, first in Zimbabwe and then Equatorial Guinea, before he was released in 2009.

After meeting the actor, Mann, now 59, tells the Mail: "'Gerry was fascinated by the Wonga Coup, but more so by what happened afterwards, by how you survive in an African prison."

According to Mann, Butler is a fan of Ridley Scott's movies and has been looking for a screenplay that would bring them together.

Mann clearly hopes his own recent book about the failed coup, Cry Havoc, will form the basis for the film. As Mann points out, it is more than a military drama and a grisly prison ordeal – there's also a love story element.

His wife Amanda, having stood by him while he languished in jail for more than five years – including a final 15 months in the notorious Black Beach jail in Malabo - wrote to say she was divorcing him just two weeks before President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea signed his pardon in November 2009. As the Mail reports, "She took him back the instant he was released". ·