Jennifer Hudson was cast to play Winnie Mandela in her biopic "Winnie" while Terrence Howard was cast to play her ex-husband Nelson Mandela. The film is currently in production in South Africa.
The casting choice created a lot of controversy. Winnie Mandela threatened to sue the filmmakers because she had not been asked to consult on the film and because an American is playing her. While I do agree that Winnie should have been consulted - in all fairness the woman is still alive, I still feel that casting Jennifer to play her is not such a bad thing after all.
Granted, Jennifer does not have the range nor the acting chops of a Meryl Streep for instance, she still stands a chance at being a great fit. If memory serves me well, there have been American actors who have played African characters very convincingly; Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda and Forest Whittaker in The Last King Of Scotland. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing a better Idi Amin than Whittaker! He owned that role that led him to win an Academy Award for Best Actor. Cheadle also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role.
I'm rooting for you Jennifer! Prove the naysayers wrong! If anything, there should be more concern on whether Terrence Howard can play a convincing Mandela! Only time will tell.
2 comments:
I think the beef is that they wanted the role played by a local artist. The movie industry clearly pursues big name actors to draw audiences to theaters.
True...most people were blaming Hollywood for this decision yet the people behind the project are from Canada and South Africa.
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