What Do The Critics Say?

"An intelligent crowd-pleaser anchored by an Oscar-worthy performance from Freeman and directed with invigorating gusto by one of our top film pros. Who knew that Clint Eastwood had such an inspirational movie as "Invictus" in him. The screenplay, based on the book "Playing the Enemy" by John Carlin, is insightful." Randy Myers CONTRA COSTA TIMES "Directed flawlessly by Clint Eastwood. An uplifting story that will have you cheering in your seat." Michael A. Smith NOLAN'S POP CULTURE REVIEW "Another understated gem from director Clint Eastwood." Daniel Eagan FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL "Invictus is an absorbing, jubilant tale about the healing power of sport." Thomas Leupp HOLLYWOOD.COM "Undemanding story about politics, sports, and men doing their jobs as best they can." Tim Brayton AGONY & ECSTASY "Eastwood's modest approach to these momentous events shames the usual Hollywood showboating. In a rare achievement, he's made a film that truly is good for the soul." Peter Travers ROLLING STONE "Freeman is perfect casting for Mandela. Freeman had been Mandela's choice to play him in a movie, and the actor was given an unusual amount of access to study his subject. What Eastwood has done is to assemble a cast of American and South African actors and allow them to create something moving, exciting, and improbably true." Jonathan F Richards FILM.COM

"Eastwood directs all this with skill, delivering a classy, sincere, meticulously crafted picture. Laudable achievements include the bright, sun-washed cinematography by Tom Stern and the score by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens, which is nicely infused with African chants." Kevin N. Laforest MONTREAL FILM JOURNAL "Inspiring messages about equality, forgiveness and understanding resonate thanks to Clint Eastwood's deft hand and standout performances by Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon." Tyler Hanley PALO ALTO WEEKLY "It's about things both great and small, when the seemingly insignificant is far from that." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "This inspiring film is a dramatic history lesson about quality leadership and the power of forgiveness." Betty Jo Tucker REELTALK MOVIE REVIEWS "Freeman was born to play this lead role and is superb. The ending of the movie is sure to bring tears of exultation and joy. This is one of the great sports movies of all time." Keith Cohen ENTERTAINMENT SPECTRUM "Morgan Freeman doesn't play Mandela as much as inhabit the man, in a performance that seems to embody the very transcendence that Mandela himself has come to stand for." Ann Hornaday WASHINGTON POST "Despite Invictus' many big moments, it's the smaller details of the film that really stick. Eastwood seems to inherently know that even in a big story, it's the intimate moments that hold everything together, and he is never overwhelmed by the size of the story." Erin Free FILMINK

The Inside Story "Invictus did not have a linear progression from book to screen. Rather, there were several people on similar paths that serendipitously intersected at exactly the right time. Morgan Freeman ("Along Came a Spider") and his producing partner, Lori McCreary ("Feast Of Love"), had been developing a movie about Nelson Mandela for years. They had been trying to adapt Mandela’s autobiography, "A Long Walk to Freedom", for the screen, but capturing the entire span of his story in the timeframe of a feature film proved to be impossible. "I was devastated, but Morgan reassured me, 'Lori, when a door closes, a window opens,' and literally the next week I received a four-page proposal on John Carlin’s book about the 1995 World Cup, which eventually became Playing the Enemy," McCreary recalls. "We thought it was a great way to get a sense of the soul and character of Mandela in a story that takes place over less than a year’s time." Coincidentally, the author would later met Freeman in the city of Clarksdale, Mississippi, where the author (whose 'day job' is as a journalist) was researching a story about poverty in the Deep South. His local contact turned out to be a friend of Freeman’s, who introduced them. Carlin recalls saying, "Mr Freeman, I’ve got a movie for you." Freeman asked Carlin what it was about, and the author responded: "It's about an event that distills the essence of Mandela’s genius and the essence of the South African miracle." And he said, "You mean the rugby game?", Freeman asked. Carlin was astonished. "That’s when I found out that he had already read the book proposal I had written. Before they proceeded, however, McCreary says that she and Freeman went in person to get the blessing of Mandela, known in South Africa as "Madiba." Freeman started off by saying, "Madiba, we’ve been working a long time on this other project, but we’ve just read something that we think might get to the core of who you are." Before Freeman had a chance to finish the the sentence, Madiba said, "Ah, the World Cup." "That’s when I knew we were heading in the right direction," says McCreary. Around the same time, ShoWest Award winning producer Mace Neufeld was also given Carlin’s proposal. "At that point, I didn’t know anything about the ‘95 Rugby World Cup, but I knew a lot about Mandela as an important world figure. I thought it was an exciting way to tell his story within a thrilling sporting event." Taking it to the next step, Neufeld approached screenwriter Anthony Peckham, with whom he had worked before, about writing the script. "I jumped into it with both feet," Peckham ("The Assassin") stated. "Part of the reason is that, while South Africans know this story, I don’t think the rest of the world does. But it’s not just a story for South Africans. To me, this is a story about leadership: not only Mandela’s, but also that of the Springboks and others. True leadership is a rare commodity and should be celebrated when we find it." Peckham says that growing up in South Africa he knew almost nothing about the man at the center of “Invictus.” “In those years, Nelson Mandela was a ‘banned person,’ so all I knew about him was what the apartheid government told us. It was only after I left that I found out about all the noble things he’d done. So for me, writing this script and learning as much about Mandela as I did was my own journey of liberation and a dream come true." Unaware that they were already on parallel paths, Neufeld contacted McCreary because he believed, "Morgan Freeman was the only person who could play Nelson Mandela." "Mace called me and said he had this really great project and a great writer," McCreary remembers. "He started to pitch me the story, and I couldn’t believe it. We met with him and Tony, and I knew Tony was the right guy to write this script. He had such a passion for this project," McCreary said. "When we got Tony’s script, we all thought he had really hit a home run," Neufeld states. "Now the question was who was going to direct it." There was only one answer. Freeman sent the screenplay to two time Oscar ® winning director Clint Eastwood (1993 & 2005), who says he immediately responded to the material. "The story caught my imagination. I thought it was a natural for a movie, and I really liked the way the script was written." "Clint and I read the script and instantly agreed that it was definitely something we wanted to do," 1997 & 2005 DGA Award winner Robert Lorenz notes. "It’s a very powerful story, and a very human story, too, in terms of the bond that develops between Mandela and Francois Pienaar. It’s also a fascinating look at the more personal side of Mandela, as well as illustrating his extraordinary leadership qualities." "The entire project was like magnets coming together," Freeman said. "Right people, right time, right place, right issue. Everything just clicked into place, which doesn’t happen very often. But when it does, it’s like destiny." Long before the spark, that would lead to the production of "Invictus" being ignited, Nelson Mandela (the one person that mattered most) had chosen an actor to play him. Madiba was once asked who he would want to play him in a movie. He answered: "Morgan Freeman." "When I first met him years ago, I told him I was honored that he had mentioned me to portray him," six time Image Award winner Freeman recalls. This film marks Freeman's third collaboration with Eastwood. The two previously appeared together in "Unforgiven" (1992) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004). "Morgan and Clint are very familiar with each other’s style; they have a real shorthand. It’s a very easy, comfortable relationship, which is why they enjoy working together so much," Lorenz ("Mystic River') observes. "Morgan understands exactly what Clint is looking for, and Clint knows Morgan will give him the absolute best performance." "Morgan is great," Eastwood affirms. "I could not imagine anyone else in the role of Mandela. They have the same stature and same kind of charismatic nature. Morgan also has a similar vocal quality, and he worked very hard to capture Mandela’s inflections. I think he did it quite well." "That was one of my main concerns, getting his accent and the rhythm of how he talks. I’ve heard him speak often, and as we got closer to filming I watched some tapes," says Freeman, "and then suddenly I had it." He points out that the most important part of his performance could not be practiced. "I wanted to avoid acting like him; I needed to be him and that was the biggest challenge. When you meet Mandela, you know you are in the presence of greatness, but it is something that just emanates from him. He moves people for the better; that is his calling in life. Some call it the Madiba magic. I’m not sure that magic can be explained." 2006 NBR Award winner Matt Damon ("The Departed") too, had to master a South African accent to play Springbok Captain Francois Pienaar. The role also presented him with more challenges, starting with the most obvious. "I immediately went online and started reading about Francois and realized that he’s a pretty big guy." Damon told Eastwood: "You know, this guy is huge." The Hollywood legend who made a brief and uncredited appearance in 1955's "Revenge of the Creature" replied: "Hell, you worry about everything else. Let me worry about that." Eastwood also notes that, "Matt may not be the same height as Francois, but he has the same tenacity and power. He also worked out very hard and got himself in terrific shape for the film. And by structuring set-ups and camera angles, you can make a person look the way you need them to look." However, there were no cameras present when Damon met Francois for the first time. "Francois invited me to his home and made me this incredible gourmet dinner. When I got to his house, he answered the door and I just looked up at him." There was a pregnant pause, before Damon said: "I look much bigger on camera." Pienaar says he was immediately impressed by the actor. "He’s a great bloke. I was struck by his humility and his wicked sense of humor. He wanted to learn everything he could about me, my philosophy as a captain and what it was like for us in 1995. We also chatted about the game of rugby, what happens in training and about the technical aspects. We had a lot of fun." Damon also got help from another star member of the 1995 Springboks, Chester Williams, who was then the only black member of the team. Williams came onboard as a coach for the onscreen rugby players providing an invaluable resource for the filmmakers. "Chester was a great technical advisor because he remembers every single play and where every person was," says McCreary. "None of this fake movie stuff. We’re going to play proper rugby," Williams told the director. "Chester wanted to make sure we played real rugby in the film," Eastwood said. "It’s a very tough game, and the guys who play it are a special breed of cat." An intense training programme was undertaken to prepare the cast members who would portray the Springboks on-screen. "I did a lot of weightlifting and put on a lot of muscle," Damon offered. "I also did sprints, which I’d never done before, and some boxing." Arriving back in South Africa, Pienaar asked: " You look really fit. What have you been doing?" When Damon ("The Informant") told him, Pienaar laughed and said: "Why didn’t you just play rugby?" Scott Eastwood ("Flags of Our Fathers" & "Gran Torino") was cast as Joel Stransky, who was responsible for all of the points scored by the team in the World Cup Final. The casting of McNeil Hendricks came about by accident. Williams who had been looking for weeks for someone to play him in the film recalls, "I was in a shopping center and I ran into McNeil Hendricks." "It was a great opportunity for me," Hendricks said. "Chester and I go back a long way, and we have similar personalities. When he played rugby, he was always smiling. It was also spectacular to have a chance to work with people like Matt and Morgan and Clint Eastwood." Sports coordinator Aimee McDaniel ("Coach Carter", "The Benchwarmers" & "Semi-Pro") was responsible for assembling the men who would comprise the various teams, most of whom would come from South Africa. Apart from playing rugby, the men playing the powerful New Zealand All Blacks, had to learn the traditional Maori war chant, called the Haka. "We contacted the New Zealand Rugby Association to make sure the Haka would be done correctly," Lorenz recalls. "They sent us an expert named Inia Maxwell, who assisted in the training and was present when we shot the scene so we knew the dance was accurate." Filming on the former leper colony of Robben Island (1845 to 1931) where Mandella spent eighteen years, after which he was transfered to Pollsmoor (6 yrs) and Victor Verster (2 yrs) prison's, before being released from Pollmoor on February 11th 1990, would evoke the most emotion. "Everybody was struck by how tiny the space was," says Eastwood. Synopsis

Newly elected South African President Nelson Mandela has inherited a country in which unemployment and crime are high, the currency is worthless on the international markets and poverty amongst the black population is utterly appalling. Despite the fact that the country remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid, Mandella has a strong vision for the future: one he hopes will restore and heal the much troubled nation. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela invites Francois Pienaar, captain of the Springboks, to tea. With the 1995 World Cup about to be staged, he believes South Africa’s underdog rugby team are the catalyst his country needs. Pienaar's parents, who retain a hold on the old values of white South Africa, are shocked. Pienaar is bemuzed. What does Mandela want from him? A World Cup win.

The Verdict "Two time Oscar winning director Mr Clint Eastwood ("Unforgiven" & "Million Dollar Baby") returns to the big-screen with an emotionally driven, energy charged look at the man who reshaped a nation through their love of Rugby, President Nelson Mandela. While fans of Rugby Union will find the 1995 World Cup final between the Sporingboks and the All Blacks a real drawcard, "Invictus" is more than just another 'sporting film'. As you'd expect with Eastwood in the directors chair and Morgan Freeman in the lead role, this is a classy tale that ensures our focus is always on the spirit of what Mandela hoped a winning team could do for a country still racked with division. Freeman, a good friend of the man who was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe, is superb as 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner and newly elected South African President, Mandela. Sure there are some physical differences but that's not important. What Freeman gives us is an onscreen character who fits so comfortably with an audience, that after a while, it's hard not to believe this is, Mandela. As audiences will discover during the closing credits, the same can be said for Matt Damon, who is totally beefed-up for his role as Springboks captain, Francois Pienaar. Credit must also go to cast members who represent the original players in the 1995 World Cup final. They are to be commended, considering the only had four months training. And yes, the final at Johannesburg's Ellis Park was played under clear blue skies in front of sixty five thousand spectators and yes, a passing South African Airways Boeing 747 'jumbo jet' did bear the words 'Good Luck Bokke'. On the day, the 747 made two passes, coinciding with President Mandela's appearance in his Springbok jersey, sporting the number six of captain Francois Pienaar. "Invictus" is truly inspirational and a highly memorable experience. 4 1/2 STARS." Who's Who?

Morgan Freeman Matt Damon Patrick Lyster Penny Downie Sibongile Nojila Bonnie Henna Shakes Myeko Louis Minnaar Danny Keogh Tony Kgoroge James Lithgow Robin Smith Andre Jacobs

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Nelson Mandela Francois Pienaar Mr Pienaar Mrs Pinnear Eunice Zindzi Minister of Sport Springbok Coach Rugby President Jason Tshabalala New Zealand PM Johan De Villiers Television Announcer

The Crew

Director Screenplay Adapted from Producers Original Music D.O.P Film Editors Casting Production Designer Art Direction Set Decoration Costume Design

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Clint Eastwood Anthony Peckham the book "Playing the Enemy" producer/Robert Lorenz/Lori McCrearyMace Neufeld Kyle Eastwood & Michael Stevens Tom Stern Joel Cox & Gary D Roach Fiona Weir James J Murakami Jonathan Hely-Hutchinson Leon Van Der Merwe Deborah Hopper

Run Time 133 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Warner Bros - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 The Movie Pages & impact Internet Services. All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian and International Copyright. Trademark Laws and Intellectual Property Rights apply.