Movie News

Eastwood and Freeman re-team for Mandela film

Wed 26 Sep 12:20 PM

It's looking increasingly likely that Clint Eastwood will be directing The Human Factor, which will see him reunited with actor Morgan Freeman who'll be playing Nelson Mandela in the film.

The movie, based on the John Carlin book The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela And The Game That Changed The World, concerns the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which some feel helped heal post-apartheid race relations in South Africa. The sporting event was held in the country after it had been barred from competing since the 1980s due to apartheid.

Freeman has received Nelson Mandela's blessing for the role after visiting the symbolic leader in South Africa. Matt Damon is in talks to play the captain of the Springboks team. Freeman is also co-producing.

Freeman will be joining several other big name actors by playing Mandela, including Danny Glover and Sidney Poitier, who both took the part on for separate American TV series. More recently Dennis Haysbert played him in for this year's Goodbye Bafana that focused on the story of the white South African who stood guard over Mandela for twenty years whilst he was imprisoned and was played by Joseph Fiennes.

The Human Factor looks likely to see it's release in 2009.