I saw an extended preview trailer for Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom at Cannes (read about it here) this year and it certainly wasn’t what I expected, which may end up a good thing or bad thing. Do all biopics need to follow a familiar formula, or can they buck the system a little?
In the cast of Mandela, which the Weinstein Co. currently has slated for a November 29 release, the film is based on Nelson Mandela’s autobiography of the same name and centers on the South African leader and President from 1994-95 and his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years in prison.
The footage shown at Cannes featured rap music and producer Anant Singh was on hand and referred to it as the “rock star” version of the Mandela story. What I saw has faded from memory a bit, but I seem to recall a lot of it focusing on Mandela’s revolutionary activity and I don’t believe that’s a part of his story we hear that much about, at least I know I am relatively unfamiliar with it. So perhaps this might be a nice little shake-up to the biopic formula. I think we all are waiting for Idris Elba to get his just recognition by the Academy as well and this just might do it.
Now the following teaser trailer is unlikely to give you any real perspective on anything I just said considering it takes the film’s title to task, but it’s a glimpse nonetheless.
