Jennifer Hudson interpretera WINNIE MANDELA au cinema

Jennifer Hudson is set to star in “Winnie,” a drama that casts her as the former wife of South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela.
Hudson will play Winnie Mandela in a film that begins production May 30 in the South African locations of Johannesburg, Capt Town, Transkei and Robben Island, where the future president spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.
“Winnie” will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt, the veteran South African filmmaker whose 2006 film “Yesterday” was Africa’s Best Foreign Film nominee, and who also directed “Cry, The Beloved Country,” and “Sarafina!”
Andre Pieterse, Roodt and Paul L. Johnson wrote a script based on the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography “Winnie Mandela:A Life.” Picture is being made with South African and Canadian money, with Pieterse producing with Michael Mosca of Canada’s Equinoxe Films.
While Nelson Mandela — who’ll be played by Morgan Freeman in the Clint Eastwood-directed “Invictus” — is a universally sympathetic figure for his struggle against apartheid, his former wife is a far more complicated figure. She has been depicted as the mother and wife who was a steadfast supporter of her activist husband and who was jailed herself for campaigning for his release and fighting against apartheid. Her image was subsequently tarnished by association with a bodyguard who murdered a 14-year old alleged informer, and she was later convicted of fraud.
The filmmakers 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.”
Hudson, who is expected to sing the film’s theme song, won the Oscar for her screen debut in “Dreamgirls’ and followed with “The Secret Life of Bees” and “Sex in the City.”

oh say it ain't so! jennifer is alright but I don't think she can pull off a south african accent and I'm damn sure she doesn't speak a south african dialect. why not go for a south african actress like my girl leleti khumalo (that's the girl on my avatar and with denzel in the other picture). she's not really a stranger in america.

CRyma a écrit:Je pense que c’est plus un cout de marketing qu’autre chose. Il avait besoin d’une actrice noir nord américaine, assez connue et qui ne lui couterait pas extrêmement cher. Il veut que son film et ses œuvres soit connue en Amérique par conséquent il cherche une personne que les américains connaissent.

Nappy Soul a écrit:Hey Jill Scott and Noni Rose proved that they could pull it off on No1 Ladies detectvive agency...why not Jennifer Hudson whom I like a lot as a person? And didn't J Hud already got an oscar under her belt?

Et puis c'est evident que le casting s'est base sur les ressemblances physique des deux femmes.I'm actually looking forward to it.

South African actors want to stop Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson from playing Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in a new film on the ex-wife of the nation's first black president, reports said Monday.
The Creative Workers Union of South Africa said using foreign actors to tell the country's stories undermined efforts to develop the national film industry.
"It can't happen that we want to develop our own Hollywood and yet bring in imports," the union's president Mabutho Sithole said in The Citizen newspaper.
"This decision must be reversed, it must be stopped now," union secretary general Oupa Lebogo said in The Times. "If the matter doesn't come up for discussion, we will push for a moratorium to be placed on the film."
Hudson, who scooped a best supporting actress Oscar in 2007 for the musical "Dreamgirls", landed the role of Madikizela-Mandela last month.
The film will be directed by South African film-maker Darrell J. Roodt, whose films include "Cry, The Beloved Country" and "Sarafina."
The criticism comes just days before the opening of the Clint Eastwood film "Invictus", a drama about Nelson Mandela and South Africa's 1995 rugby World Cup victory which united the nation.
Morgan Freeman plays the president and Matt Damon is the rugby team captain.
Madikizela-Mandela campaigned tirelessly for her husband's release during his 27-year imprisonment in the apartheid era.
However, her image was tarnished by a series of scandals including her links to the kidnap and murder of a young activist and a 2003 conviction for fraud.
She separated from Nelson Mandela in 1992, two years after his release.

Nappy Soul a écrit:

The Creative Workers Union of South Africa . What a joke.
So a Hollywood studio finances the movie, gets a producer and director and a casting director and the Creartive Workers Union of South Africa I assume they have a say on the direction. I wonder why they belive anyone is paying attention to what they gotta say.

Why don't they fund their own flick, then? Jeez! People today...!

J'avais pas fait attention a ce nom . Une mentalite d'assiste qu'ils ont la.

Terrence Howard vient d'etre confirme comme l'acteur qui jouera le role de Mandela dans ce film. Curieux comme casting vu la grande difference de teint entre les deux. J'aimagine la crise que vont piquer les membres du maintenant fameux The creative workers union of S.A. Que pensez vous de ce casting?

Terrence Howard to play Nelson Mandela


In Jennifer Hudson-starring feature 'Winnie'



By Etan Vlessing

May 7, 2010, 11:00 AM ET

TORONTO -- Terrence Howard ("Iron Man") is to portray Nelson Mandela in the Jennifer Hudson-starring feature "Winnie," based on the story of Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela's former wife.

Darrell Roodt is directing the $15 million historical drama, a South Africa-Canada co-production set to start production May 31 in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner for 18 years.

Also Friday, Canadian distributor D Films said it acquired the Canadian rights to "Winnie," a co-production of Canadian producer Equinoxe Films and South African partner MaAfrika Films.

Toronto-based D Films recently picked up a second Equinoxe title, the $6.4 million film "A Million Colors," another Canada-South African production directed and co-written by Montreal-born and New York City-based Peter Bishai.