In Contention

Tag: Sophie Okonedo

  • Queen’s Honors for Harwood, Zeta-Jones, Okonedo

    Capping what was a pretty decent day for South Africa yesterday, one of the country’s most notable cinematic sons, Ronald Harwood, was accorded a knighthood in yesterday’s Queen Birthday Honors list. The Oscar-winning playwright and screenwriter (“The Pianist,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “The Dresser”) is the only film figure granted that top honor in this year’s list. He offers this quote in response:

    “I was truly surprised and greatly delighted to learn that I was to receive this honour. I arrived in England in 1951, at the age of 17, from South Africa where I was born in the hope of making my way in the great world. So it has been a long, fruitful and immensely enjoyable journey, crowned by this splendid reward for which I am deeply grateful.”

    Lower down on the list is a trio of British actresses; most elevated among these is a second 2002 Oscar champ, Catherine Zeta-Jones, who was named a Commander of the British Empire for her film and charity work. (Okay, a CBE, but I like the mental image of the “Chicago” star commandeering an entire empire. You know she would.)

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  • Jennifer Hudson boards Winnie Mandela biopic

    Jennifer Hudson at the 2006 Academy AwardsThe current vogue for South African-focused cinema continues apace. With Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman applying A-list Hollywood polish to the figure of former president Nelson Mandela, Jennifer Hudson is now set to do the same for his ex-wife.

    Rumors about this have been circling for some time, but yesterday Variety confirmed that Hudson has signed on for “Winnie,” a full-scale biopic of the controversial politician, most notorious for her alleged (ahem) involvement in the murder of a 14 year-old activist in 1989.

    South African director Darrell James Roodt (an Oscar nominee for 2004’s “Yesterday”) is at the helm. He also co-wrote the screenplay, based on Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob’s 2003 biography “Winnie Mandela: A Life.” (Emma Gilbey’s superb “The Lady” would be a better starting point, in my opinion.)

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  • ‘Skin’ takes the Santa Barbara Audience Award…but where are the buyers?

    SkinOne of the films I caught during the recent Santa Barbara International Film Festival but neglected to mention was Anthony Fabian’s “Skin,” the true-life story of Sandra Laing, a black girl born to white parents in Apartheid era South Africa.

    The film has been bouncing around the festival circuit — Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, AFI — but despite landing buyers in a few foreign markets, American distributors have shied away.

    “Skin” boasts solid performances from Sophie Okonedo and Sam Neill.  It’s quite accessible and is the kind of thing you’d expect a dependent to pick up without blinking.  I wasn’t blown away by the film or anything, but it’s certainly marketable.  So what gives?

    Well Fabian’s film somewhat surprisingly took the Audience Award in Santa Barbara over the weekend, it’s first gong so far.  I expected something like “C’est pas moi, je le jurre!” to win the award, or one of the Asian dazzlers, like “Suspect X,” each of them audience favorites during the fest.  But “Skin” made its stand.

    Maybe those domestic buyers will come calling now.