Posts tagged nelson mandela
Invictus – New Clips
Dec 5th
Below are some new clips from Clint Eastwood’s upcoming film – Invictus, one of the favorite’s for this years Best Picture at the Oscar’s (Clint Eastwood always seems to be a favorite of the Academy along with George Clooney). Invictus stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar the South African Rugby team captain. At the National Board Of Review Clint Eastwood was awarded the best director for Invictus while Morgan Freeman and George Clooney split the best actor award.
Based on the book by John Carlin Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation, Invictus is the story of South Africa’s bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 1995, and then the home team’s campaign in the competition to win the trophy (if you know your stuff they beat New Zealand 15-12 in the final). The film is set just a few short years after the end of apartheid, Mandela’s release from prison and election as President, at the time and still to an extent now the country was deeply and bitterly divided, which threatened at times to scupper the campaign. The trailer should be released within the next two weeks
Invictus is in UK cinemas February 5, 2010, and in the US December 11th just in time for Oscar season.
Jennifer Hudson set to play Winnie Mandela
Nov 18th
Jennifer Hudson winner of a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2006′s Dreamgirls, will take the lead role in a new biopic of the former South African first lady Winnie Mandela, the film will shoot from May 30, 2010. Nelson Mandela himself is being portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the upcoming Clint Eastwood-directed Invictus, which centres on Nelson’s attempts to unite his country behind the South African team in the 1995 rugby World Cup.
Winnie will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt. Andre Pieterse, Roodt and Paul L. Johnson wrote a script based on the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography “Winnie Mandela:A Life.” The filmmakers have said they will ‘tell the whole story, good and bad’. “I was compelled and moved when I read the script,” Hudson said. “Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I’m honored to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told.” I’d really like to see how this turns out, Winnie Mandela is an interesting and complex character, Jennifer Hudson was great in Dreamgirls but it wasn’t like she was out of her comfort zone, we’ll have to wait and see, I’ve got faith!
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, 72, remains a popular figure in South African politics despite her 1991 conviction for involvement in the kidnapping, assault and death of a 14-year-old alleged informer, Stompie Moeketsi. She and Nelson Mandela had been married for only a year before he was forced into hiding and then imprisoned in 1962 – he would only be freed in 1990. While he was in gaol, she became an increasingly powerful figure in the African National Congress and went on to run the ANC Women’s League. She was deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology in the first post-apartheid government for 11 months, until allegations of corruption led to her dismissal.