The last few years has seen a flurry of screen portrayals of Nelson Mandela. Morgan Freeman finally took on the role, to somewhat disappointing effect, in Clint Eastwood’s “Invictus,” Clarke Peters, of “The Wire” and “Treme,” did an excellent job in the underrated thriller “Endgame,” while Dennis Haysbert played incarceration-era Mandela in “Goodbye Bafana.” Now it looks like one more, somewhat surprising, star is going to take the role on.
Terrence Howard, who’s been a little quiet for the last few years, aside from “Fighting” and a role in George Lucas’ upcoming “Red Tails,” will take on the iconic role in “Winnie,” a biopic of Mandela’s former wife. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is referred to by many South Africans as “The Mother Of The Nation,” due to her role in the struggle against apartheid while her husband was imprisoned. She’s also a controversial figure, however, being convicted of kidnapping in relation to the murder of a 14-year-old boy, and of fraud in 2003, as well as splitting from Mandela in 1992 due to infidelity.
She was played earlier this year by Sophie Okonedo (“Hotel Rwanda”) in the BBC drama “Mrs. Mandela,” but the role in “Winnie” will be taken, strangely enough, by Jennifer Hudson, of “American Idol” and “Dreamgirls” fame. The youngish casting suggests that this’ll focus on the early part of their lives, but it’s possible that the sweep of the story will be wider. Filming starts on May 31st, under the stewardship of Darrel James Roodt. We were going to make a joke about Howard being replaced by Don Cheadle in “Winnie 2”, but Empire got there first, goddammit…
