'Invictus' hero recalls day Mandela transformed South Africa

[tabatha]

I don't usually post articles from CNN - but this is a good read.

(CNN) -- Francois Pienaar was the "big blonde son of apartheid," a white South African who grew up dreaming of glory on the rugby field.

He became a star and the captain of South Africa's national rugby team -- a sport hated by many black South Africans as the game of their oppressors.

But on June 12, 1994, Nelson Mandela summoned Pienaar to his office to ask him to play a more dramatic role.

As Mandela served Pienaar coffee with milk, he gave the star rugby player snippets of his audacious plan. That plan would electrify South Africa, stretch Pienaar to his physical and emotional limits, and cement Mandela's reputation as a transcendent leader.

"I left that first meeting with the feeling that we were in good hands in South Africa," Pienaar said. "I felt safe with him."

What happened after Pienaar's meeting with Mandela was so magical that it seemed to unfold like a movie. Now, 15 years later, it is. "Invictus," a Clint Eastwood-directed film on Mandela, opens nationally this Friday. Morgan Freeman stars as Mandela and Matt Damon plays Pienaar.
Video: 'Invictus' red carpet

The film (made by Warner Bros. Pictures, which, like CNN, is a unit of Time Warner) depicts the South African rugby team's surprising run at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. It is based on the 2008 book, "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/10/invictus/index.html

We need a Mandela figure for the environment to bring the two sides together.

[Mika]

1. Yes, but ..

.. Mandela can't be good.

He's friends with ..







:sarcasm:

---

[tabatha]

2. Yep, that's why Cheney did not like him.

And, he is looking at Obama the same way.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Morgan Freeman seems comfortable in the role

I would have personally liked Danny Glover in it, but that's just me...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Clint Eastwood made a movie about Nelson Mandela and it stars Matt Damon.

I'd pay a penny for Paul Mooney's thoughts.

[tabatha]

5. When I heard that Clint Eastwood was in the process of making the

film, I said this to someone in an email:

"I hope he does a good job, and does not screw up. Mandela is too good to have some crappy film maker not do justice to him. I think Eastwood is right-wing."

[Zomby Woof]

6. Eastwood does not consider himself a conservative

In an interview he gave when 'Million Dollar Baby' came out he said, "I don't consider myself a conservative. Of course, I am no ultra-leftist either". It's key that he included 'ultra', because he could have have just let it stand as 'leftist'. My feeling is that he disdains ideology in general.

This past weekend in the L.A. Times, he bashed both the Republicans and the Democrats - which puts him right in the mainstream of DU.

Regardless of how one wishes to deconstruct his politics, Eastwood IS a damn good film-maker. Actors love working with him because he trusts them to do their jobs well. He has an eye for a good story, and knows how to convey scripts effectively, with little to no tampering with the writer's work.

Morgan Freeman is an old friend of Eastwood's, going back to 1991 when they did "Unforgiven". He couldn't think of a better director to handle this story than Eastwood, and really, with his dignified bearing and aura of authority, could anyone play Mandela better than Freeman? It's a dream match-up.

[tabatha]

7. Thanks - that is interesting background that I did not know.

The screenwriter for the film is an ex-South African living in Morro Bay.

http://www.independent.com/news/2009/dec/05/south-africas-unifying-scrum/