Idris Elba has played the character of Nelson Mandela in the biopic about
his life, ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’. He has admitted that it was not at
all easy for him to emulate the dialect of Nelson Mandela. As a matter of fact,
it took a long time for the 41-year-old actor to perfect Nelson Mandela’s
accent.
He said that he was not comfortable doing that in the beginning and it was
for the simple reason that he could not understand that what was making Mandela
to talk like that. But he eventually figured out that it was the traditional
language, Xhosa.
Dialect was not the only humongous task for the British actor to deliver,
but the appearance was even more concerning as he looked nothing like Mandela.
He said while speaking to the daily Telegraph, “”My worry was I don’t
look like Mandela. Justin just said, ‘Don’t worry about it’. But I was saying,
‘No one is going to believe me. I am too dark-skinned’. Justin was like, ‘It’s
the presence we want”.
Elba’s own father was the inspiration for the director to play Nelson
Mandela. He really gave the stellar performance in the movie based on the life
of great South African leader.
