Nelson mandela lived for that ideal and he made it real. He achieved more than could be expected of any man and today hes gone home and weve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth. He no longer belongs to us, he belongs to the ages. Through his fierce dignity and will to sacrifice his own freedom for the freedom of other madiba transformed south africa and knew all of us. His journey from a prisoner to a president embodied the promise that human beings and countries can change for the better. His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him serve as an example that all humanity should aspire to, whether in the lives of nations or our own personal lives. And the fact that he did it wall grace and good humor and the ability to acknowledge his own imperfections only makes the man that much more remarkable. He once said im not a saint unless you think a saint is a siner who keeps on trying. I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration if Nelson Mandelas life. My very First Political action, the first thing i ever did that involved an issue or policy or politics was a protest against apartheid. Rose i interviewed Nelson Mandela in 1993. You have at this moment no reservation or indecision along with the council youve taken with your colleagues that the decisions made by you and them are right for south africa, the sacrifices, the toll, the price youve paid, the blood thats been spilled was necessary, painful, but necessary . Yes . Absolutely. We are an organization which from its foundation committed itself to building a nation and focus on nonviolent and disciplined struggle. We were forced at the resort to arms by the regime. And the lesson of history is that the Political Action which they used are determined by the oppressor himself. If the oppressor uses peaceful means, the oppressed would never resort to violence. It is when the oppressor in addition to its prepressive policies uses violence that the oppressed have no alternative but to retaliate by similar forms of action. And therefore the pains, the blood that was spilled and the responsibility for that lies squarely on the shoulders of the regime. Rose tonight, a movie about mandelas life long walk to freedom with actor idris elba and director justin chadwick. I had to really sort of do do my research, you know . My research took the tone of, you know, i was more interested in what people thought about mandela once hed left to room as opposed to what mandela was like in the room. Because once he left the room there was this always in all the discussions there was this sort of feeling around everyone, his presence stayed in the room. And that spoke volumes to me about the man. He doesnt bring any baggage to a character of his own. He gos in and soaks it up and it comes from the inside out and it was very important with this story in particular to have someone prepared to do that. And someone brave, you know . He has big shoes to fill. I, Nelson Mandela declare that the republican of south africa rose mandelas death, coincidentally, happens at the same time as the release of a new movie about his life. Its based on his autobiography long walk to freedom. It was made with his permission and his familys support. Here is the trailer for mandela long walk to freedom. My name is Nelson Mandela. Ammandla you were winnie, the first social worker ive ever heard and youre the most beautiful girl ive ever seen. This is your final warning were not breaking any laws i will be stronger, theyll call me freedom something has changed. For 50 years we have been talking peace and nonviolence. Not anymore. When i get older, i will be stronger mixed with acid, catalyze this and youve got it. If the blacks take over, our country is finished. What would you personally want . I have children and a wife. I want them to walk free in their own land. The situation on the streets is out of control. Somebody wants me. The accused are responsible for acts of sabotage with the intention of overthrowing the government. Nelson mandela, do you plead guilty or not guilty . My lord, it is not i but the government that should plead guilty. You will never touch a woman or a child again. You will never leave there. Its a pity they didnt hang you. Im going to make sure you wish they had. The more they oppress us, the harder well fight. Freedom. It is an idea for which i am prepared to die. Shall we begin . Rose joining me now is justin chadwick, the director, and idris elba who stars as Nelson Mandela. Im pleased to have them here at this table. Welcome. Good to see you again. Tell me about london and how you learned of Nelson Mandelas passing . Well, we were in the middle of the premier and i think it was about a a half hour towards the end and the film a phone was passed to Prince William and the phone was passed down our row. Rose you were sitting next to the duchess of cambridge . Yes. And Prince William sort of looked at this message and sort of absorbed it for a second and i was distracted by him for a second because i know hed watched the whole movie with his glasses on and this message he took his glasses off and was sitting in a stupor for a second and it kind of confused mend another phone came my way and this message, it was just the weirdest thing. I didnt tell you this, justin. The weirdest thing about this is that the duchess i looked at the duchess and she had tears in her eyes for a second and i looked at the phone, and i couldnt believe it. And theres a scene in the movie and nelsons character is sitting with the clerk and he says to the clerk, he says just open the gate and let me go. Thats the line. And it was at that precise moment, that one line where i took my gaze from the duchess, looked down at the phone and we both looked at the screen and it was that line. It was the i mean, the timing of it was surreal. It was really, really surreal and you could sense that there was a sort of tension in the auditorium where we were because i guess everyone had sort of heard. And i was concerned about his daughters were with us, theyd been with us for the last four weeks when we opened the film firstly in johannesburg and then throughout america and then they came and it was it was such a celebration for us all, you know, that theyre so idris left, i left the theater to go up to find out what to do. And they wanted to continue playing it. And i was just so glad that they were together at that moment. Rose his children wanted you to continue playing the movie in very much so. But if they hadnt have been there one of them would have been in argentina and shed have heard that news on her own so they were together when they heard it. Rose can this film has been under consideration for a long time. And that idris and i are relative newcomers to the project rose of course you are. But the rights to it, and Nelson Mandela agreed to i it. And madiba, while he was in prison he was an activist, Film Distributor making illegal films in south africa and hed twrin madib and hed already twin book a version of the book in prison and then got the rights and then rose in perpetuity. Yeah. And big nicholson the writer, our staff, went through various drafts of the scripts. 34 drafts. Is that right . I hadnt read 34 drafts but, yeah no, thats right. 25 years they were toting this idea around. Rose whats interesting about the film, why the film is important to me it is that we all know Nelson Mandela after prison but we primarily know him after prison. This is about before prison. The understanding of who this man was and where he came from. Yeah i think that was a choice that bill and nan and i guess yourself at a certain point thought this is the focus, the younger man. When i came on board the project that decision had already been made and i sort of reinforced, i think, some of the ideas and the ideology behind keeping some of this stuff about the younger man given this journey to look at the older man that we all know and it i mean, its a surprise isnt it for a lot of the audience . Because theres so many things that they dont know about mandela they that they discover. Rose and the intensity of the relationship with winnie. Well, that was what was really unfortunate. And i think that central love relationship i went down im from manchester and were from outside that country and so i lived there for a year and over the years met many men and women on both sides of the struggle that knew him as a young man. Had been out with him. Knew him as a boxer and they knew he loved cars and clothes and id actually known him and known winnie and they talk about and theyd all talked about winnie and when he came together with winnie there was this chemistry, this relationship and that felt to bill and i very important to look at the story through the prison of that relationship. Its a remarkable time period for mandela because hes about 37 years old when he decides to become an activist. Well, no, hes 37 at the pinnacle of his him being a lawyer in soweto. By the time hes 43 years old hes on his way to jail for the rest of his life. And in that time period he meets winnie. Rose we saw in the trailer. They said youll never touch a child again. Im 41 years old, now. And that time is just so compressed when you think about how much his life changed in about seven or eight years. Rose you are youre larger than he is in terms of well, hes 63. Rose hes 63 . And you hear what . Im 6 21 2. laughter rose but just before he went into prison he was a heavyweight boxer and you look at those images before he went into prison, he kept that training through prison and he slimmed down. I remember the family talking about he became very lean in prison but beforehand he was well built. Strong. Rose so tell me how you saw it and what you had to do in order to bring this man alive. Rose justin and i discussed early on. In fact, when justin came to me i was reluctant to take this part. Rose because . I dont look like mandela. I felt honestly i felt those were two big shoes to step into. Too big of a spare of shoes to ten in. I like my career but i didnt feel i had the attributes to play someone like Nelson Mandela and justin did not agree. But we discussed what it is we wanted to foe cuts in on. What was it about me that we felt could bring this character to life and we spoke about aura. Rose aura. Aura. Presence. Its an odd thing to admit about yourself but ive been told all my career, all my life, actually that i have a presence and an aura and thats what justin snuck in on in our discussions. Everything i would say to combat why i shouldnt play or to combat reinforce why i shouldnt play mandela he said yeah, but idris, the aura. And he would talk about mandelas aura in court as a young man. He would talk about mandelas aura amongst women. He would talk about mandelas force of nature in terms of when he would do these speeches in soweto among you know, rally not retreat. People really felt his words and in fact, it was in conflict to the a. N. C. At the time, the early ann see why sort of like who is this mandela guy doing that . So basically we felt like we had to do his aura and presence alive. We wont do the looky life, the audience will have to accept that from frame one. This is about an aura. This is about a man. This is about a mandela you havent seen before in the latter part of the film the audience get rewarded by seeing the symbol of the man, the hair, the makeup. But the other stuff about the you are a. A and i had to really sort of do my research but i was interested about what people thought about mandela once he left the room as opposed to what mandela was like when he was in the room. Because once he left the room there was this always you know, in all the discussions there was this sort of feeling around everyone. His presence stayed in the and that spoke volumes to me about the man and helped me guide my presence, whatever you like, primitive or raw, does s not like mandelas but it helped me nurture that presence with justins guidance and then we started to put that into performance in the early days wed sit around the table and read the script and understand what words worked, what scenes worked. It was a long process. Rose how much were you influenced by your own sense of your father . Massively. I mean, the older mandela was completely sort of framed around my dad. The he was 76, my dad, my late dad, when he died. Rose died recently . Yeah, september. And he was the only man i knew very intimately to understand what a man of that age feels like, processes, ideas, sounds, talks. You know, the whole environment of a man that age and without meeting mandela i food way to emulate that on screen. Theres no way so i just and my dad had this my dad had beautiful gray silver hair and big winning smile and was very charismatic, loved to talk, loved to tell stories and he would you know, things he would do i just sort of mimicked. My dad would point with his middle finger and ive seen pictures of mandela doing that and that and i would just sort of go, right, okay. And you just pick up things that ultimately, you know its an interpretation, we kept saying that. This is an interpretation. Rose exactly. But idris had to and all the actors playing these iconic characters from history and recent history had to step on to streets that were populated by men and women living the struggle in south africa, who knew these leaders intimately. This isnt c. G. I. He had to walk on there and be so that aura was very, very important to capture. It vision a londoner but he goes on those stages. South africa South Africans were very accepting but they would not accept any of the characters f think hadnt been true to the men and women they were representing. Rose tell us about the relationship between walter and mandela. That is a beautiful friendship. I mean key to the film. Rose thats why i asked. Yeah, it was a great bond there between those two men. That was special and tony knew the family the gentleman in the place had a connection before the film. Id worked with tony before and he does that man justice in the film. Because mandela at that point made a lot of impressions on people and then here comes a man who makes an impression on him. And changes the course of his life and at an advanced age. It wasnt like he was 15, he was in his late 30s. Rose tell me and then well see a clear here lets take a look at this clip. This is telling a theater full of people that they need to fight. I mean, you have to understand what this film shows you he was fighting and he understood what the a. N. C. Had to do was fight. Roll tape. He is good looking, but you must give me sofia loren everyday. We are the people of this nation. But we dont have power. We dont have rights. We dont have justice. South africa now is a land ruled by the garden. There comes a time in the life of every nation when there remains two choices. Submit or fight. cheers and applause rose it should be said, you did not have an opportunity to talk to Nelson Mandela, it was too late when you started making this film, correct . Yeah. He was very frail. It was an opportunity, but we decided against you know who, i didnt want to encroach on his space, you know . Rose didnt know how much time he had. Yeah, i just wanted him to he was very he knew of my presence. I sent him a birthday message which i heard he acknowledged. His family were very sort of they surrounded me if i wanted winnie and the foundation was so general raus to us. Rose whats the biggest challenge for you as a director here . Well, youre making a movie in africa, difficult train. Im dealing with a real story where men and women are very much alive. Ma dee be was alive while we were making the film. The family, the jailers, theyre very much alive and i meat lot of people. And the challenge is to get away with what South Africans were thinking what we were going to make and just make a raw, visceral, emotional and real story and be true to the men and women were representing. Rose how do you see it as different from other movies that have been made . By just that fact . Well, we were making a film about a relationship, about a marriage, about a love story. So as much as its about apartheid its about forgiveness and we had input from those men and women that it was about. I think naomi, for example, is the only actress whos played winnie to ever sit down with winnie and talk to her. We spent time with people talking to people and finding outboth sides rose what did she learn from winnie . Winnie gave her her blessing. She gave her her blessing to play the part so shes the right foreign play the part, shed done her home work, done her research and so to play in the way she saw fit. And the film doesnt shy away from any of the controversial flaws of the character were portraying and i think for us it was about dropping the audience amongst them. So youre in 360 degree worlds that are real. Theyre alive. They are populated by men and women that lived there. The generals at the end who shrewd madiba, who shrewd idris, brought their own uniforms. The blur between what we were trying to make and trying to make it feel completely rose you knew you had to have him . Right from the beginning. Yeah, he was my first choice. Rose because of the aura thing . Not just the aura. Rose and he was a great actor . Hes a good man. Rose hes a good man . A id heard he was a good man. Rose that what youve heard . And i love idris. He doesnt bring any baggage to a character of his own. He soaks it up and comes from the inside out and its very important with this story particularly to have someone that was prepared to do that and someone brave he has big shoes to fill. Rose oh, sure. Yeah. What prepared you for this in terms of acting, do you think . I dont think theres any one single role rose just the evolution of an actor . Yeah. And its my careers spanned over 20 years but what justin was talking about earlier, you know, that scene in particular that weve just seen the clip of justin didnt allow know rehearse it. The audience werent told that idris elba is playing this role. They werent told too much information. They were put into their cus costumes, put into that scene and that film was running for at least six or seven minutes before i steppedened and when i stepped on justin had two or three cameras on, one in the audience for their reaction and one on me as i get up on stage. We lover it later on, but the first reaction from them is about oh, oh and it was interesting how it was rose was it one take here . Well, the audience reaction is the first take. Rose the first take, yes. The audiences reaction to him. The challenge for me, the challenge was to sort of south africa, the films ive made the the past, like daddys little girl or tyler perrys film, the wire they know idris elba but when i stepped up on stage they were like oh it was this real sort of laughter and joy because i was there and then it was a realization that oh, hes playing mandela, koog. And they hear the voice. They mayer that message and then they feel the aura. I hate to say it like that but what was happening was you saw it on their faces that they really got riled up by what we were doing. It was South Africans make film, they make film. Theyve been doing that. But this was a film that was trying to realistically show their history in a way that didnt sell it out. Didnt pretend. They werent taking a lie from me. So when they knew they should have been listening some of them were still laughing but thats probably what mandela had to go through in the first place when he was there. Having to stand up there and say the spear of the nation, which is the military arm of the a. N. C. , that was a new idea. In soweto these kids are sitting there going what . Fight . Really . Weve heard of you mandela, but how . How do we fight this establishment. . So it was interesting what was happening in real life. Rose when you look back at it now, what are you proudest of in this movie . Wow. I guess im im proud of those moments, actually. Those moments with 700 South Africans who were there for the day and theyre playing part in their history in a film which is close to them and were doing speeches that move them, you know . Move. I mean, you know, they would look me dead in the eye while i was doing this speech and sometimes every now and again youd get some guy who would stand up and maybe overacting for the camera but he was feeling the spirit, something inside of him was getting stronger and then a woman over there would burst into tears because of that was the moment i think i was most proud of. Then secondary to that, you know opening the film in south africa. Taking it back to them. Rose and watching our families. My three kids were there, my wife, with the mandelas, with eddie daniels. Barbara hogan, all these men and women and so all these people, the i have to say we were because theyd given us complete freedom. No one at any point said you must do this. You must do that. They knew it was going to be a raw interpretation. They knew it was going to be flaws and all so their response meant everything to us. Rose when you came to the United States as an actor you worked on voice, yes . Yes, constantly for about four years. Rose i know you did. laughs how important was voice in this . I mean, you dont look like him. You have to aura. But voice is important. It is, yeah. The audience need something to grasp on to when you ask the audience to look at me, i look nothing like mandela but believe me. Rose you hear the voice, believe me. Yeah, in movies when they say you know, always gods got a deep voice. This is what the audience immediately responds to. But with mandela hes so distinctive, his voice is so characteristic it is audience needed something to hold on to immediately and it was important for us, wasnt it, that we got language of his voice correct. We couldnt match it perfectly, but we wanted to feel his presence and his voice. Rose i want to show you a clip of a conversation i did with him in 1993. Oh, god. No way rose you ready . Yeah, im ready. Rose role tape. Nelson mandela on this talking about boxing. It taught me discipline, how to go forward and how to retreat. Is when the opposition is so strong that we could not overcome it and how to flank problems even before you actually don the gloves you must be taught the basic rules of the game. And to be able to advance, to go forward when you feel that way and you can put out your enemy, your opponent, you must do so. But when you begin fighting, your rival is superior, you stay out and you keep him away and you sit around, you concentrate on body punches and wear him down and you have to study your enemy even before you go to the ring but even more important, study anymore the ring and dont take him for granted. We are negotiateing and when you are negotiating in regard to a country, you were not thinking of victory. Rose no victory . Youre not thinking of victory for yourself. You dont want the opponent to be a loser. You are thinking of a victory for the people as a whole South Africans must be the victimors. Not to the a. N. C. , not to the leader of the a. N. C. , but the people of south africa. Yeah, wow. Thats fascinating. Thats just fascinating to watch that because it really does sum up his philosophy whether it comes from boxing or not, but he has a real sort of mastermind view on the art of combat, on the art of negotiation. He just has this really different sort of point of view. He understood his enemy. He learned aftercannes while in prison. He understood his enemy, understood what he was fighting for. African. What we call an enemy he didnt call an enemy. Afterkuan. He understood where they were coming from. The other side, well go back to the movie, this is the other relationship between mandela and winnie and here it is. Are you ashamed to greet me in front of my people. When new public you must represent the policies of the a. N. C. And what does that mean . We are negotiating, we are not fighting a war. But the people have chosen to fight. Do you want me to betray our people . Do i betray our them . I waited a long time what does that mean ive been away . Does that mean you can terrorize people . It has to stop, winnie. You realize theres a war out there . The people are angry we are all angry i am angry you are angry but you must show loyalty loyalty, winnie mandela. Rose now, whats happening there . You know, thats rose took you back to that scene. That was a difficult scene to shoot, actually. Because the nature of it, that speech, you know about the a. N. C. And their sort of their strategies but that was a moment when they were actually sort of the first time talking about them. Yeah. And hes a man thats been in prison for 27 years, comes out, wants to negotiate, shes been living in it. In soweto. She still live there is today. Shes in it so theres these two separate views about what we should do. Lets seize the country, take it by whatever means necessary. No we move forward and negotiate so the love in this story is not only about his love for her but also for country. I think for both of them. They they both had this calling for their people and their country. They just had different ways of trying to achieve their people there. And its very different when youre living in amongst it and what happened to winnie is a 23yearold woman whose husband is stripped away from her. Winnie had two very, very Young Children and a husband she didnt know where she was going to see. To have 17 months not knowing where her children where, this young woman is full of anger. And the film we try and show it, its a moment in the film but the understanding that mandela had sort of given up on the fight. It was sort of spread rife, you know, once he was in jail. When he was in jail it was a lot of mandelas old, he doesnt fight anymore. And so when he came out of jail and was talking a very different language from the fight, the armed struggle, he was talking in negotiations to you know, that set him and his wife aside but it also set him it was a very tumultuous time for him when he got out of prison because that he had to negotiate on one hand and on the same time he had to keep his people believing in him and he wasnt showing any guns. And at that time, the period right where youre interviewing its just after your clip, isnt it . Heres a man thats been training himself, holding his ideas comes out to the most bloody no one knew what to do. No one. I mean, that pernicious eagle of racism was descending into utter madness and no one knew how to handle it. What was happening, we were with men and women who had been there at that time we were talking about it, it was complete it could have been a complete bloodbath and how he saw against his fellow a. N. C. Members, his wife, the people close to him and the people and so there was a way to negotiate through i mean, its also and on top of that, no matter which way the a. N. C. Dealt with the struggle it all looked they all looked like it came from Nelson Mandela, you know . Because theres a large faction of the world that thinks that Nelson Mandela was a complete terrorist period. Rose right. And thats to do with the rose ann, see communism, all that. Theres a massive misdirection that was happening and nelson had to wear it all. He was the a. N. C. Or represented it. It was quite an interesting time. Rose and patience was his virtue. I mean you know, its beyond that, isnt it, for you and i its patience. That is something else. Rose everything about this is something else, isnt it . I mean, you cant just you know, you cannot imagine what 27 years away does and how you keep your sense of when i get out. Ive been telling this story in the press quite a lot but for the preparation in the two or three months that i had prior to filming i asked if i could stay in Robben Island for the night and they said no. Like its not gonna happen. The last prisoner stayed in there in the late 80s or what not. They said its a museum now, you cant stay them. And i asked and asked and eventually they said yes and they said i couldnt say in mandelas cell, its sacred, but there was a wing that hadnt been used, its not part of the tour, you can say in one of the cells there. Ironically it was c wing which was punishment wing and i spent one night there, from 7 45 to about 7 45 in the morning and, you know, ive never been locked up before and the sense of loss of your freedom is a horrible thing. You cant describe it. But in the morning i was so annoyed. I was so angry. The guys name is lieu well lynn, he was looking after me, he was happy to see that i was all right and i was furious. He was like you all right, man . And like no, i cant believe they locked one . This cell for 19 years. I spent one night and then it comes out of there with a completely clear ed. I spent one night and wanted to kill someone. Just in perspective, you know . It helped me actually sort of give know a context about because a lot of our film spends time the prison and we didnt want to do prison acting. There was a part of his life, this was 19 years of his life where he became a man in this prison so it was important that i got context of what prison would do to you and Robben Islands especially. And how they had such forgiveness, those men. All of them had this. Eddie daniels talks he served his time on b wing. They have no hatred believe it or not. They are theyre so full of forgiveness. One of them said on the first night i was there, you know, he didnt hear a child for 27 years. Didnt hear a child. They curse them as men and that line. This is where film making is great because that line that tony was you know, his smile, this should be the biggest service you could ever do for your country. Attempt to some up the spirit because they were prepared to die. And they get life in prison. So theyve almost got a second wind of life. They made the decision, we all sat there and said all right, well take the necklace in, whatever. And then they get life in prison. That must have been a second win for them. So theyd gone in with a completely different mentality, havent say in because they should be dead and theyve made that decision. Rose let me show you there clip. This is what mandela does when he tells the courtroom what hes willing to die for and why. Ive cherished the ideal of a free, Democratic Society where all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities it is an ideal which i hope to live for and achieve but if need be it is an ideal for which i am prepared to die. Nelson mandela, do you plead guilty or not guilty . My lord, it is not i but the government that should be put in the dark. I plead not guilty. cheers and applause rose it must have been good to give that speech. Yeah, that was it was a tough responsibility there. Because that was one of the few recordings of madiba that exist and everybody around everybody who knows. Hes the first its one of the first recordings him. There is that one. Its interesting because one of the things we had to play up in the movie is that speech in real life is four hours long. And mandela speaks with quite an english accent and very, very slow. And he trips up on his words. Ive heard some of it. That last line he said if need be in the actual recording he says if it is need be. He makes a mistake on that one line and he makes that mistake because braham what was brahams last night . Braham fisher had read his four hour dissertation and said listen, dont just give it to them on the plate. Say here if need be im prepared to die. If needs b. And he reads it. Obviously i could tell what hes doing. Hes reading it, hes not quite sure how it it tripped him up. Rose right, right. So he says if it is need be and its quite a slow, slib pace. It took four hours to do that. But for us we had to make that a little more smooth, i guess. The interpretation. Rose so where where are we now in terms of the release of the film . Well, we saw it that was the first thing, we spent the day after the premier with the two sisters as they were preparing to go back home and i asked them what do we do now . And they said you carry on with it. Its true to my fathers legacy so you carry on. So weve were just in the schedule slightly in terms of this week particularly is the funeral and the mourning. And they kind of told me off a little bit. Rose the daughter . Yeah, the daughter because i was like you know, lets shut it down for a little bit. Its a movie, it will be okay. And she looked me in the eye and she said no, thats you do whats comfortable for you but thats not what my father would want. Rose go ahead. Its not about him, she said. She said its about his work. His philosophy and this is the movie he sanctioned. And i have to be honest, it was a moment because shes quite formidable, shes beautifully soft and nurturing but when she looks you in the eye and tells you what her opinion is you dont mess around and i stood back for a second and i was like right, i stand corrected if thats what you think we should be doing is goo go ahead and keep this movie alive and celebrate this mans life. Lets do it. My personal comfortability, i was like i dont feel it wouldnt feel like to promote this film that the point but. Rose but if it helped understand the man it seems to me this adds to an understanding man. It does. Theres no doubt about it. Its a film that its a massive education, this film. Im going to show the film this week to a bunch of students and thats one of the engagements i havent canceled. Rose students here or where . In america, in atlanta. Rose let me finally talk about winnie mandela. What happened . What changed . Because when he came out of prison it was different. Obviously hes been in prison and that would change a considerable amount. But shes changed, too, because shes gone through a different experience. Shes been amongst that. Shes lived through it i mean, it was atrocious what was happening in the township. Shed seen that, men and women being murdered. The 76 riots. The pernicious evil spreading. Shed actually been there and right in it and i mean it was one of the last things she said to us before we started filming, he said those old men, all they wanted to do is talk. We should have fought with the last drop of our blood. Because that she was angry. She was living and breathing it and the men accosted those families and the people of south africa it was brutally horrific. I dont know what changed between them. I think its very, very it must have been very, very difficult and painful but i think theres always been a strong bond between them to have been the end. I think it was a very, very strong bond. Rose well, you should know that because of the relationship is a big part of the film. Yeah. But circumstances happen to differ. Each had a different set of circumstances. She was a different person. Rose he was a different person, too, wasnt he . Im not sure. I believe he went into prison with a set of ideals and the world came to mandela. Rose i agree with that. I think he kept true to those ideals. Rose a different person does not suggest a weakened person but perhaps a stronger person. Rose hed honed those ideals. He found a way forward. He waited, biding his time for the right time. And i dont think that lessoned the bond that they had as a couple but each individual had gone through very, very different set of circumstances. Rose you know, apartheid, the whole time mandela was in jail we know apartheid was still alive and kicking and apartheid in jail versus apartheid out on the streets is two different things. Rose absolutely. So i think where when hes sort of you know, had been eroded, if you like, you know, her will to negotiate, her will to sort of look at her country in a way that could be reconciled had eroded and mandelas had been strengthened in jail simultaneously because although he was in jail and it wasnt fun it wasnt anything compared to what was outside. Thats one of the things that was said to me. He said however terrible it was on Robben Island, they had each other as men. I have that had each other close strong relationships on the same wing. All of those men were on the same wing. They didnt have a handful of days in solitary confinement. We had months and months and months where they terribly and physically mentally abused us. So that was personal. It does something. So they had that group of men and also men not from just the a. N. C. But other Political Parties that were on the same wing. But winnie also has that mandela name to hold on to, you know . She represents mandela. That was her name. So when shes living in soweto, people are saying what would mandela do she had quite an interesting struggle, i guess. A part of me thinks a part of her could have, would have reconcileed but had she had not the pressure of being a mandela as well as standing right there and being tortured, that killed it. Rose is this the best time of your life . Its a pinnacle in my career, absolutely. Rose but you lost your father in september. Yeah. Ive never lost anyone closest to me in my life. Ive never experienced loss in that sense so this is completely but not having my parents around has been tough. Rose has acting been everything you wanted it to be . Oh, yeah. More so. I had an amazing, amazing career. In a short space of time ive been very, very lucky. Fortunate. Ive had my downs but ive had some amazing ups. Rose is there connection to the characters that you do . Between the characters or between myself. Rose well in the sense that you think you bring the same quality of thetoeach of these roles maybe its the aura, maybe its Something Like that that you bring to these roles so that if youre for the movie, you know its going to be of a certain i hope so, but i like to force whether its on the page or not its the complexity that sits amongst us. At this very table were having the discussion and were aware of whats going on around us. Were aware the cameras are running, were aware theres certain things you can and cant say. What an actor needs to do is bring that stuff and let it sit right underneath the face and the words that you presented with. Thats what id like to do. So even its a character sitting there and listening, one wants to see what hes thinking or at least get a sense of it and thats, i think, what i bring to each character, whether hes got one line or ten lines you know . I want to see the complexity of what hes thinking about. Rose someone i think has speculated you might be the first black james bond. laughs who is the first yellow one . Rose i dont know. laughs its a real big rumor thats sort of taken alight with the world and interestingly i think if it was to ever happen, i tell you what, that would be the will of a nation. I said it in interviews all the time that it would be the will of a nation because i think so many people would love to see some you know, a character like that thats iconic and historically been a white male that would represent such massive change, wouldnt it. Rose interest idea. Whats next for you . Im doing a movie. But not until next year. Rose take some time off after this . No, weve got to work. We made the film for an audience an independent african movie financed solely out of south africa. Rose you raised all the money. All the money. So to have that film played in the cinemas is so important for us. Rose so the book was First Published in 1993, so ten years later the movie arrives. Amazing. Rose thank you. Thank you. Rose good to see you. Thank you for joining us. See you next time. The following kqed production was produced in high definition. Every single bite needed to be great. Twinkies in there. Wow its like a great, big hug in the whole city. That food is about all i can handle. My parents put chili powder in my baby food. French fries everywhere, all over the table and just a lot of chili