Producer's long walk to making 'Mandela'

Despite some negative reviews, Anant Singh is proud of his film tribute to Madiba. He tells Carlos Amato of the 16 years of effort that went into its completion

Anant Singh was utterly at home in the White House on Thursday when he gave US President Barack Obama a private screening of his biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

South Africa's top film producer has a flawless political antenna to match his business and creative ones. He hides his toughness behind a screen of bland, practised remarks delivered in a sleek transatlantic accent.

But Singh admits to his annoyance about a few negative reviews published after the movie's Johannesburg premiere. He has spent 16 years on the project, so it figures that he is a bit protective.

"I was disappointed," he said this week from Washington DC, hours before his movie date with Obama, "because I think that reviews should be run on the day a film opens so that you get a balance. But we did the best we could. We're all proud of it. If people feel differently, well, you can't please everyone."

There will be snipers aplenty, given the increasingly robust debate around Nelson Mandela's greatest achievement: guiding an inclusive transition from apartheid that, according to many critics, sacrificed economic justice on the altar of peace and reconciliation.

"The film does not address that question," said Singh. "What we tried to do was give a balanced, honest view of Madiba's story, and viewers must make their own judgments."

Director Justin Chadwick and screenwriter William Nicholson have given a measure of depth to Mandela's character by acknowledging his womanising, vain, hot-tempered youth.

But the film's treatment of his ex-wife is bolder and more interesting, linking the trauma of Winnie's experience of solitary confinement to her role in the necklace killings of the mid-1980s and her final estrangement from Madiba.

But Madikizela-Mandela was unperturbed by her depiction as a morally damaged figure, said Singh. "I sat next to her throughout the screening and then she turned to me and said: 'It's beautiful - don't change a thing.' She was amazed by Naomi [Harris] and her performance."

The casting of Idris Elba as Mandela has proven inspired, with most critics praising his assured occupation of the leader's voice, gait and charisma. Some very bankable giants - Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman - bowed out when Elba entered the reckoning.

"Very few people could have played the role," said Singh.

"Morgan was an option about five years ago, at which point the project focused on the older Mandela. And in the past five years there were several discussions with Denzel - and he was very keen, subject to availability. But I got to know Idris through his work on The Wire and Sometimes in April, and it was clear that he was a very underrated actor - a real star who could really capture Mandela."

Singh was gently dismissive of those who moan about a foreigner portraying South Africa's greatest leader.

"The person who plays any role should be the best person for the job and not because they're any nationality. We owe it to any film to do that. And we did audition numerous South Africans. Some people say John Kani could have done it, but he couldn't have, for the same reason that Morgan couldn't have - neither of them could play the young Mandela as Idris did.

"And when Daniel Day-Lewis played Lincoln, nobody batted an eyelid in the US or asked why an American wasn't playing the role. You do also have a commercial reality to consider - you have a responsibility to your investors to cast actors who can market a film of this scale. But I've also done 70 or 80 films with 100% South African casts."

The $30-million (about R300-million) budget of Mandela was funded locally, with Singh's Videovision sharing the risk with the Industrial Development Corporation and the National Empowerment Fund. "It's a very positive thing that all the profits will return to South Africa," said Singh.

These could be substantial - the film will get the widest release of any South African film to date, reaching 2500 screens in the US by Christmas and then 300 screens apiece in France and the UK.

Given the scale of the production, the budget was puny by international standards. "We're very fortunate that it's a South African story because we have such excellence in this country - creatively, technically and from a cost standpoint. This movie would cost $120-million in the US.

"Our production designer, Johnny Breedt, worked on it for 10 years, recreating Robben Island, Orlando and Pretoria's Palace of Justice at the Cape Town Film Studios."

The lavish production values - barring some questionable makeup to age Elba - have deservedly won plaudits.

"We had 450 vehicles in the film - the first in 1924 and the last in 1994," said Singh. "We had to get so many things right, whether it was the armoured vehicles of 1986 or the various hairdos and hats and double-breasted suits. We ran a factory producing sets and costumes. You've got to do it right. You can't take short cuts."

After 16 years of hustling, it is safe to say he did not.