After premieres in Johannesburg, Los Angeles and a private screening at the White House last week, the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom made its debut in New York on Thursday night, with some of the biggest names in entertainment coming to lend their support.
The films creators and actors seemed more relaxed on the red carpet in the Big Apple after what many described as a nerve-wracking experience in Johannesburg where, in the presence of the Mandela family, struggle stalwarts and ordinary South Africans, presenting a film that was authentic was absolutely key.
It’s about creating buzz with many recognizable faces walking the red carpet, from Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, Tony Bennett and the star of the show, Idris Elba adding that extra shimmer under the New York lights.
“South Africa embraced me. They embraced that was I coming to play this role and there was never a feeling of, you know, animosity towards me and that embracement gave me power, strength, really gave me love and I wanted to do them proud.”
Naomi Harris made a transition from a Bond Girl to playing Winnie Mandela. She has described the Winnie Mandela role as the most difficult she has had to play.
“Winnie is definitely the most challenging role that I’ve played in my career so far, you know. It’s really difficult because there were such polarized ideas about who she is and to pull all of that together into one cohesive character was definitely really challenging.”
The Creators say they’ve been heartened by the response. Producer Anant Singh says authenticity was very important in this film.
“It really feels good when we can stand out here in New York with the best of the world’s cinema and be able to hold our heads up high and say, you know, this is a South African film.”
Director Justin Chadwick spoke about his nerves at the Joburg Premiere.
“That was so nerve-wrecking because we’d been working on the cut right up until that point. So, I was in the edit room just before we went to SA, to show it to the family, the comrades, men and women that lived the struggle and had helped us make the film; comrades that had been on Robben Island. It was nerve-wrecking and actually very overwhelming at the end emotionally, because of the wave of emotion that we all received as filmmakers afterwards. Winnie talking about how true it was to her struggle and how honest a portrayal it was and George Bizos and Ahmed Kathrada all there giving that support.”
The Mandela family was also represented by Zindzi Mandela.
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