Well, we first broke the news way back in December and now Idris Elba (The Wire, Thor, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance) has finally confirmed that he's set to play former South African leader Nelson Mandela in a biopic based upon Mandela's 1995 autobiographical book Long Walk to Freedom, with cameras set to roll on the film this summer. Elba, who recently won a Golden Globe for his work in the BBC series Luther, told HipHollywood: "My big project this year, I'm gonna go play Nelson Mandela in ‘Long Walk To Freedom’, an autobiographical work written by Nelson Mandela himself, which highlights his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years in prison… That's where my head is geared to this summer."
Before we get to Long Walk to Freedom, Elba will also be seen this June alongside Michael Fassbender (Shame), Charlize Theron (Snow White and the Huntsman) and Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) in Ridley Scott's Prometheus, while he's also busy filming the giant monster movie Pacific Rim with director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth).
I'll have to see the trailer to get the jist of how he'll look portraying him because right now thinking of him without physical alterations I can't see it.
ReplyDeleteThis film spans a really long time I'm interested in seeing it.
Hi Jardley, I think I could see him as a younger Mandela. Like you say, going to span a really long time so there's bound to be a lot of make-up
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