Idris Elba honoured to play Madiba

British star Idris Elba says playing Nelson Mandela on the big screen was “a massive opportunity” and he hopes he does justice to the former SA president. 

By now you know that a movie’s been made based on Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk To Freedom memoir.

We’ll only get to watch that film next year but the actor who plays Madiba on the big screen has been talking about this “massive opportunity.”

Watch the newly released teaser trailer for Long Walk to Freedom here. 

British star Idris Elba says it meant a great deal to be given the chance to play Madiba nd to re-educate people about his life,

Speaking to Reuters, he said: "I never met Mr Mandela because he was very ill, so our interpretation of him was without his personal influence.

"But the script is such a good script, and obviously it comes from his book, and the book speaks for itself."

Elba went on to say that portraying the global icon comes with a great amount of responsibility.

"This is the first real biopic I've done, and there's no real difference in the process, but it's Mr Mandela," he explained.

"So that's huge, everyone knows who he is and what he sounds like, and I look nothing like him.

"If I get judged, which I will, about my performance or how I sound or how I look, I think people miss the point. The point is that this is called Long Walk to Freedom, this is the book about his life and it's his own words."