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| How I turned Nelson Mandela's life into a screenplay | How I turned Nelson Mandela's life into a screenplay |
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| Last Thursday, I was sitting in the Odeon Leicester Square, London, a row behind the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as the film I'd written, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, was heading towards its end. There was some sort of quiet commotion going on, people leaving their seats, scuttling up the aisles. Prince William was handed a phone. Then Kate was crying. As the credits rolled the royal couple were led away. The audience was on its feet, giving a standing ovation. The film's South African producer, Anant Singh, appeared on stage, with Idris Elba, our Mandela. The applause redoubled. The producer signed for silence and told us about the death of Mandela. | Last Thursday, I was sitting in the Odeon Leicester Square, London, a row behind the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as the film I'd written, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, was heading towards its end. There was some sort of quiet commotion going on, people leaving their seats, scuttling up the aisles. Prince William was handed a phone. Then Kate was crying. As the credits rolled the royal couple were led away. The audience was on its feet, giving a standing ovation. The film's South African producer, Anant Singh, appeared on stage, with Idris Elba, our Mandela. The applause redoubled. The producer signed for silence and told us about the death of Mandela. |
| See if this film is playing near you | See if this film is playing near you |
| We all stood in silence for a minute. Then, as we began to make our way quietly out of the cinema – the after-party had been cancelled – I found myself doubly silenced by what seemed to be more than coincidence. We had been working on the film for 16 years. Many times during those years I had feared the film would never be made. Now it was completed; Mandela's daughters Zenani and Zindzi had come to London for the premiere. And he had died this very night. | We all stood in silence for a minute. Then, as we began to make our way quietly out of the cinema – the after-party had been cancelled – I found myself doubly silenced by what seemed to be more than coincidence. We had been working on the film for 16 years. Many times during those years I had feared the film would never be made. Now it was completed; Mandela's daughters Zenani and Zindzi had come to London for the premiere. And he had died this very night. |
| My involvement goes back to the summer of 1996, when Nelson Mandela presented Anant with the film rights to his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. Anant came to me with the suggestion that I write the screenplay. We had worked together before, on a film called Sarafina!, and the collaboration had been a happy one. This time it wasn't to prove so simple. | My involvement goes back to the summer of 1996, when Nelson Mandela presented Anant with the film rights to his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. Anant came to me with the suggestion that I write the screenplay. We had worked together before, on a film called Sarafina!, and the collaboration had been a happy one. This time it wasn't to prove so simple. |
| My first research trip took me to Robben island in the company of Ahmed Kathrada, Mandela's fellow prisoner there; and then to Pollsmoor prison and Victor Verster, where Mandela spent his final years in captivity. On the drive back, our car span out of control and smashed into a rock. I broke my nose and dislocated my shoulder, Anant suffered whiplash; a knock-on effect was that I was unable to meet Mandela as planned. By the time I was back in South Africa, with the first draft already written, I had become aware of how burdensome it was for Mandela to be forever posing for photographs with strangers. So I did not press for a meeting. The truth was: I felt I had already met him. I had begun bringing to life the Mandela of our film. | |
| Mandela himself made it clear from the start that he had no wish to vet the screenplay, or to have any influence over the resulting film. Still, the problems facing us were immense. Too much material for one film, too complex a political story, too many key characters. Add to that the iconic nature of the hero. My job was to make up scenes with him, to put words into his mouth, to track his political evolution, to imagine his love affairs, and at times to rewrite his often very lengthy speeches. Two speeches in the film are in Mandela's own words, though heavily edited. All the rest are dramatised versions of statements he made and beliefs he held. | |
| The first task was the easiest. Research revealed Mandela's infidelities, his love of smart suits, his reluctance to abandon a successful career as a lawyer for the high risks of politics. My first draft, dated 4 July 1997, included scenes of his first failed marriage and his affairs. I sent it to Kathrada. He responded with concern: was I being disrespectful to Mandela? My reply, dated 18 August, runs in part: | The first task was the easiest. Research revealed Mandela's infidelities, his love of smart suits, his reluctance to abandon a successful career as a lawyer for the high risks of politics. My first draft, dated 4 July 1997, included scenes of his first failed marriage and his affairs. I sent it to Kathrada. He responded with concern: was I being disrespectful to Mandela? My reply, dated 18 August, runs in part: |
| "I have taken his marriages as a major theme, because through this side of his life so many people will be able to identify themselves with him. Very few have endured long prison sentences. Many have known the anguish of failed marriages, of loving and losing love, of feeling the guilt of failing loved ones. My belief is that the more human Mandela becomes to us, the more extraordinary and admirable his achievements become. Like you, I see Mandela as a role model: but I do not see him as a saint. If he is superhuman, his qualities are beyond our reach. If he is human, then we too can say, 'As he did, so can I.' That is the true role model." | "I have taken his marriages as a major theme, because through this side of his life so many people will be able to identify themselves with him. Very few have endured long prison sentences. Many have known the anguish of failed marriages, of loving and losing love, of feeling the guilt of failing loved ones. My belief is that the more human Mandela becomes to us, the more extraordinary and admirable his achievements become. Like you, I see Mandela as a role model: but I do not see him as a saint. If he is superhuman, his qualities are beyond our reach. If he is human, then we too can say, 'As he did, so can I.' That is the true role model." |
| This still left the matter of explaining why he became a role model. Just what did Mandela do to be hailed as such a great man? As I worked, I came to see that his achievement was essentially moral. Mandela's insight – it seems obvious now, but it was far from obvious then – was that the problem was fear itself. He was the victim, but his oppressors were afraid of him. The all-powerful white governing class feared the black majority, and this fear drove their brutality. Mandela realised that if he could remove the fear there was a chance of peaceful co-existence. That choice, to forgive and to seek reconciliation, was and remains extraordinary. | This still left the matter of explaining why he became a role model. Just what did Mandela do to be hailed as such a great man? As I worked, I came to see that his achievement was essentially moral. Mandela's insight – it seems obvious now, but it was far from obvious then – was that the problem was fear itself. He was the victim, but his oppressors were afraid of him. The all-powerful white governing class feared the black majority, and this fear drove their brutality. Mandela realised that if he could remove the fear there was a chance of peaceful co-existence. That choice, to forgive and to seek reconciliation, was and remains extraordinary. |
| This became the heart of the film. We still had to settle the tricky question of scale. Should we follow current fashion and take one small part of Mandela's story through which to understand the whole? My own belief, from the beginning, was that to do this would diminish the power of his achievement. My early drafts all ended with Mandela's release from prison, but we tried many different starting points: the little boy in the Transkei hills; the young man who made the decision to take up violence; the prisoner arriving at Robben island. | This became the heart of the film. We still had to settle the tricky question of scale. Should we follow current fashion and take one small part of Mandela's story through which to understand the whole? My own belief, from the beginning, was that to do this would diminish the power of his achievement. My early drafts all ended with Mandela's release from prison, but we tried many different starting points: the little boy in the Transkei hills; the young man who made the decision to take up violence; the prisoner arriving at Robben island. |
| We tried breaking up the time sequence, and we tried using flashbacks. At a relatively late stage we reconsidered the ending: perhaps we should take the story on to 1994, when Mandela became president. As I struggled to compress the political complexity of the years after Mandela's release into a few pages of script, I realised that these four years witnessed not only the election of the first ever black president, but also the public ending of Mandela's marriage. At this point, I began to see the entire screenplay in a new way. | We tried breaking up the time sequence, and we tried using flashbacks. At a relatively late stage we reconsidered the ending: perhaps we should take the story on to 1994, when Mandela became president. As I struggled to compress the political complexity of the years after Mandela's release into a few pages of script, I realised that these four years witnessed not only the election of the first ever black president, but also the public ending of Mandela's marriage. At this point, I began to see the entire screenplay in a new way. |
| Mandela and Winnie's love story – their love tragedy – was a metaphor for the struggle for freedom. Through their parallel lives we could represent the two paths to liberation. Mandela isolated on Robben island, learning to forgive. Winnie, tortured beyond endurance, learning to hate. | Mandela and Winnie's love story – their love tragedy – was a metaphor for the struggle for freedom. Through their parallel lives we could represent the two paths to liberation. Mandela isolated on Robben island, learning to forgive. Winnie, tortured beyond endurance, learning to hate. |
| All the pieces were already there before me. It was simply a matter of adjusting the emphasis. The new end section allowed me to play out the relationship to its sad conclusion. I gave Mandela one terrible line that said it all: "What they have done to my wife is their only victory over me." And there it was, everything we'd always wanted: a great victory accompanied by great personal defeat; a hero who is human, who can be hurt; an emotional journey that is also the story of a nation. | All the pieces were already there before me. It was simply a matter of adjusting the emphasis. The new end section allowed me to play out the relationship to its sad conclusion. I gave Mandela one terrible line that said it all: "What they have done to my wife is their only victory over me." And there it was, everything we'd always wanted: a great victory accompanied by great personal defeat; a hero who is human, who can be hurt; an emotional journey that is also the story of a nation. |
| Meanwhile, the project was subject to all the usual film-making delays. Stars who showed interest for a while, but never quite committed; directors who came on board, demanded new drafts, and then slipped away. But this is not a studio picture, it's independently financed; and the day came when our producers wearied of waiting for Hollywood superstars and resolved to go ahead. They turned to Justin Chadwick to direct, then Justin cast Idris and Naomie Harris as our leads. | Meanwhile, the project was subject to all the usual film-making delays. Stars who showed interest for a while, but never quite committed; directors who came on board, demanded new drafts, and then slipped away. But this is not a studio picture, it's independently financed; and the day came when our producers wearied of waiting for Hollywood superstars and resolved to go ahead. They turned to Justin Chadwick to direct, then Justin cast Idris and Naomie Harris as our leads. |
| Our film is not a full historical record. How can it be, in little more than two hours? It tries to pass on to the next generation the extraordinary achievement of a man who dared to forgive his enemies. It tries to make people who have never heard of apartheid and care nothing for South Africa care about this man, and what he came to stand for. I suppose it is in its way the creation of a legend. But the core of the legend is true. | Our film is not a full historical record. How can it be, in little more than two hours? It tries to pass on to the next generation the extraordinary achievement of a man who dared to forgive his enemies. It tries to make people who have never heard of apartheid and care nothing for South Africa care about this man, and what he came to stand for. I suppose it is in its way the creation of a legend. But the core of the legend is true. |
| On the night of the royal premiere, I now know, the news of Mandela's death came first to Zeni and Zindzi, just before the screening started. As they slipped away, they asked that the film should not be interrupted. They, and their mother Winnie, and all Mandela's circle, have embraced our film and want it to be seen, so that Nelson Mandela's achievement can live on. We take pride and comfort in that. | On the night of the royal premiere, I now know, the news of Mandela's death came first to Zeni and Zindzi, just before the screening started. As they slipped away, they asked that the film should not be interrupted. They, and their mother Winnie, and all Mandela's circle, have embraced our film and want it to be seen, so that Nelson Mandela's achievement can live on. We take pride and comfort in that. |
| • Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom is released in the UK on 3 January 2014 | • Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom is released in the UK on 3 January 2014 |
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