Hudson to play Winnie Mandela amid legal threats
Twitchell
(Reuters) - Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson is to star in a biopic of former South
African President Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie, whose lawyers have already
contacted the film makers threatening to block it.
"Winnie," which also features Terrence Howard as Nelson Mandela and is based on
a book by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob, starts shooting in South Africa on May 31
and could be ready for theatres by spring next year.
Producer Andre Pieterse said Winnie Madikizela-Mandela had asked to see and
approve the script before the picture went ahead, but that its backers had
refused.
"A lawyer's letter came some weeks ago," Pieterse told reporters at the Cannes
film festival, where Hudson and Howard appeared to promote the production.
"It was a benign letter and yet it contained the threat of an indictment, an
interdict that could stop the picture.
"She (Madikizela-Mandela) ... would like to see the script and approve. (But)
the film will be made based on a screenplay that was well researched and without
any interference.
"If the film maligns her in any way then there will be legal basis for her to
take action."
DIRECTOR CONFIDENT OF SUPPORT
Director Darrell Roodt was confident, however, that she would support what he
described as first and foremost "an amazing love story.
"We have such a perception of her, but it's entirely the incorrect one, because
she was one of the few saviours of South Africa," he said of a woman who
supported her husband Nelson throughout his 27 years in apartheid-era jails.
"This is a woman who is just extraordinary beyond all measure and it's high time
that a great film is made about a great South African and a great human being."
Roodt said he heard Madikizela-Mandela had been upset by Clint Eastwood's recent
South African-themed movie "Invictus" "because she was relegated to two lines in
the picture."
"It's the same old story -- Winnie is ... always in the back room," he added.
Madikizela-Mandela is one of South African politics' most divisive figures, once
hailed as "mother of the nation" but who was convicted in 1992 of kidnapping a
teenaged anti-apartheid activist who was later murdered.
She has since returned from the political wilderness after a fraud conviction.
She married Mandela in 1958 and they separated in 1992, some two years after he
was released from prison.
U.S. actress and singer Hudson, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for her
debut film role in 2006's "Dreamgirls," said she initially hesitated over such a
prominent role.
"It's just a no-brainer in a way," she told reporters. "I didn't know much of it
(her history) but of course I knew Nelson Mandela and I wanted to learn the
story of Winnie and once I did I wanted to tell it.
"I have not been to South Africa, but in a way I feel like I am already starting
my journey there by doing my research and learning of this culture."