Nelson Mandela 1918-2013

At the Royal Premiere last night with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Towards the end of the screening in the Odeon Leicester Square there seemed to be a lot of scuffling, people coming and going in the royal circle. Then the film ended, the audience applauded – standing ovation – and Anant Singh, the producer, came on stage with Idris Elba, to say that Mandela had died. The strangest sensation. Silence filled the cinema. One of the South African actors sitting near me started weeping. Mandela’s two daughters had been with us earlier – now they were gone. So my long close relationship with this man I never met, but who I feel I know so well, is over. He’s been so ill for so long that I’m happy he’s set free at last. I’m also amazed that our version of his life story, which has been so hard to wrestle into shape, and has taken so long to bring to the screen, has arrived just as his life ends. This isn’t the kind of thing anyone can plan. His life and his legacy are a million times more important than any film, but at least those who know nothing about him will get a glimpse, through our work, of why he is – was – such a great man. He brought peace to his country, at great personal cost. Now he deserves his own peace.