Levi Roots reveals that a film about his life is in the works

SAUCE king Levi Roots has revealed a film is being made about his life – and he’d love Idris Elba to play him.

The businessman, who won investment for his Reggae Reggae Sauce on Dragon’s Den, opened up about his life in an interview with Mark Dolan on GB News.

In it, he told how friends and family urged him not to play the guitar in what later ended up being the iconic scenes where he entered the Den.

He also told how he was so broke ahead of his appearance on the show in 2004 that he could only just afford his taxi fare to the BBC studios.

But his life changed after securing £50,000 in backing from Richard Fairleigh and Peter Jones, who he remains close pals with.

Speaking to Mark Dolan on GB News, Levi, 64, said: “When I walked into the Den those guys didn’t know what was coming. Everybody else had said to me, don’t take the guitar, don’t sing, I thought they were telling me to be someone else. But I thought it’s really good to be you because it’s easier when you are you, and not pretending.

“My music is me 100%. So even though my kids and everyone were saying that this is not a show about music or X Factor or anything, it’s about business and enterprise, I still want it to be me, and I think that’s the reason why Peter and Richard invested.”

Commenting on his friendship with Peter, Levi said: “What Peter and I have has become much more than just an investor. We have been in business now for 16 years, and it’s just a wonderful relationship.

“I bought my shares back from Richard, the other Dragon that invested, but I think I’ll always want Peter in there and in business, because you always want somebody that knows more than you, and Peter is that person.”

On his upcoming film he said: “I’ve got the Levi Roots movie coming out soon. We start production soon and this is the story of my life, the story of my mother’s and my grandmother’s life…

“Who would play me?,” he said laughing. “I saw Idris Elba on stage recently and he’d be pretty good!”

On how he’s coped with fame he added: “I said to Peter after the investment. How should I play this? Because I knew that I was coming from being a dreadlocked restaurant owner from Brixton that cooks, and all of a sudden I was being usurped into superstar stardom by winning on Dragon’s Den.

“I said to Peter, ‘how should I play this?’ and he said ‘I didn’t invest in the sauce. I invested in you.’ And it just gave me the most amazing freedom.

“It’s been incredible. When I entered the Den I was absolutely broke. I couldn’t afford the taxi fare that morning to get to the Den at all.

“I said to the kids that I’m going on the most important journey of my life and we couldn’t even afford a taxi fare, so it was that bad.”