Hollywood hails Mandela, after long walk to big screen

Hollywood has a long history with Nelson Mandela, whose life story was seemingly made for the big screen -- and stars and filmmakers have lined up to pay tribute to him.
By mere chance, his death on Thursday was announced during the London premiere of "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," the movie version of his 1994 autobiography that took 19 years to come to fruition.
Morgan Freeman, who played the South African leader in Clint Eastwood's Oscar-nominated 2009 film "Invictus," called Mandela "one of the true giants of the past century.
"Nelson Mandela was a man of incomparable honor, unconquerable strength, and unyielding resolve -- a saint to many, a hero to all who treasure liberty, freedom and the dignity of humankind," he said.

Freeman was better placed than many to comment on Mandela. In a 1994 press conference to promote his autobiography, the then South African president was asked who he would choose to play himself in a movie version of the book.
Mandela chose Freeman, and for a long time the actor -- who has also played God and the president of the United States -- was linked to the planned movie, and given regular access to the anti-apartheid icon.

But the project got bogged down, and Freeman eventually dropped out, before Eastwood asked him to help make "Invictus," which focused on Mandela's campaign to unite his apartheid-torn country behind the national team in the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," was eventually brought to the screen by South African producer Anant Singh, in collaboration with the highly-rated British actor Idris Elba and director Justin Chadwick, also a Briton.
"It's been well worth the wait," Singh said in a recent media interview to promote the film, which is currently being screened in select US theaters and will be released nationwide later this month.
"It's made the film better that we have gone through as much as we have," he added.
Harvey Weinstein, the legendary Hollywood producer behind the new movie, paid tribute to Mandela after his death at the age of 95.

"One of the privileges of making movies is having the opportunity to immortalize those who have made a profound impact on humanity," he said.
"We count ourselves unspeakably fortunate to have been immersed in Nelson Mandela's story and legacy. It's been an honor to have been granted such proximity to a man who will go down as one of history's greatest freedom fighters and advocates for justice.