Terrence Howard (Iron Man) will play Nelson Mandela in the Jennifer Hudson-starrer Winnie, based on the story of Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s former wife.
Darrell Roodt is directing the $15 million historical drama, a South Africa-Canada co-production set to start production May 31 in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner for 18 of his 27 years in prison.
While Nelson Mandela is a universally sympathetic figure for his struggle against apartheid, his former wife is a far more complicated figure. She has been depicted as the mother and wife who was a steadfast supporter of her activist husband and who was jailed herself for campaigning for his release and fighting against apartheid. Her image was subsequently tarnished by association with a bodyguard who murdered a 14-year old alleged informer, and she was later convicted of fraud.
