Taglines: His people needed a leader. He gave them a champion.
Invictus movie storyline. On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison after having spent 27 years in jail. Four years later, Mandela is elected the first black President of South Africa. His presidency faces enormous challenges in the post-Apartheid era, including rampant poverty and crime, and Mandela is particularly concerned about racial divisions between black and white South Africans, which could lead to violence. The ill will which both groups hold towards each other is seen even in his own security detail where relations between the established white officers, who had guarded Mandela’s predecessors, and the black ANC additions to the security detail, are frosty and marked by mutual distrust.
While attending a game between the Springboks, the country’s rugby union team, and England, Mandela recognizes that the blacks in the stadium are cheering for England, as the mostly-white Springboks represent prejudice and apartheid in their minds; he remarks that he did the same while imprisoned on Robben Island. Knowing that South Africa is set to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup in one year’s time, Mandela persuades a meeting of the newly black-dominated South African Sports Committee to support the Springboks. He then meets with the captain of the Springboks rugby team, François Pienaar, and implies that a Springboks victory in the World Cup will unite and inspire the nation. Mandela also shares with François a British poem, “Invictus”, that had inspired him during his time in prison.
François and his teammates train. Many South Africans, both black and white, doubt that rugby will unite a nation torn apart by nearly 50 years of racial tensions, as for many blacks, especially the radicals, the Springboks symbolise white supremacy. Both Mandela and Pienaar, however, stand firmly behind their theory that the game can successfully unite the South African country.
Things begin to change as the players interact with the fans and begin a friendship with them. During the opening games, support for the Springboks begins to grow among the black population. By the second game, the whole country comes together to support the Springboks and Mandela’s efforts. Mandela’s security team also grows closer as the various officers come to respect their comrades’ professionalism and dedication.
The Springboks surpass all expectations and qualify for the final against The All Blacks—South Africa’s arch-rivals. New Zealand and South Africa were universally regarded as the two greatest rugby nations, with the Springboks being the only side to have a winning record against the All Blacks up to this point. The first test series between the two countries in 1921 was the beginning of an intense rivalry, with emotions running high whenever the two nations met on the rugby field.
Before the game, the Springbok team visits Robben Island, where Mandela spent the first 18 of his 27 years in jail. There Pienaar is inspired by Mandela’s will and his idea of self-mastery in “Invictus”. François mentions his amazement that Mandela “could spend thirty years in a tiny cell, and come out ready to forgive the people who put [him] there”.
Supported by a large home crowd of all races, Pienaar motivates his team. Mandela’s security detail receives a scare when, just before the match, a South African Airways Boeing 747 jetliner flies in low over the stadium. It is not an assassination attempt though, but a demonstration of patriotism, with the message “Good Luck, Bokke” — the Springboks’ Afrikaans nickname — painted on the undersides of the plane’s wings.
About the Production
Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people, in a way that little else does. – Nelson Mandela
The 1995 World Cup Final was, to most people around the world, little more than a thrilling rugby match. But to the people of South Africa, it was a turning point in their history—a shared experience that helped to heal the wounds of the past even as it gave new hope for the future. The architect of this benchmark event was the nation’s president, Nelson Mandela. Its builders were the members of South Africa’s rugby team, the Springboks, led by their captain, Francois Pienaar.
Directed by Clint Eastwood, “Invictus” chronicles how President Mandela and Francois Pienaar joined forces to turn their individual hopes—the president, to unite his country; the captain, to lead the nation’s team to World Cup glory—into one shared goal with the motto “One team, one country.”
In the film, Mandela calls upon Pienaar to lead his team to greatness, citing a poem that was a source of inspiration and strength to him during his years in prison. It is later revealed that the poem is “Invictus,” by William Ernest Henley. The title is translated to mean “unconquered,” which, Eastwood says, “doesn’t represent any one character element of the story. It takes on a broader meaning over the course of the film.”
Morgan Freeman stars in the role of Nelson Mandela and also serves as an executive producer on the film. “This is an important story about a world-shaking event that too few people know about,” he states. “I cannot think of any moment in history when a nation coalesced so suddenly and so completely. I was proud to have the opportunity to tell this story. And when you have the chance to tell it with Clint Eastwood’s abilities… it’s something you just have to do.”
As “Invictus” opens, Nelson Mandela—a man who had spent 27 years in prison for fighting against apartheid—is elected president of a South Africa that is still bitterly divided. Though the unjust system has officially ended, the long-held racial lines between people cannot easily be erased. With his country teetering on the brink of implosion, President Mandela sees hope in an unlikely place: the rugby field. With South Africa poised to host the World Cup Finals, Mandela looks to unite the country behind their national team, the Springboks.
Eastwood notes, “This story takes place at a critical point in Mandela’s presidency. I think he demonstrated great wisdom in incorporating sport to reconcile his country. He knows he needs to pull everybody together, to find a way to appeal to their national pride—one thing, perhaps the only thing, they have in common at that time. He knows the white population and the black population will ultimately have to work together as a team or the country will not succeed, so he shows a lot of creativity using a sports team as a means to an end.”
That end is Mandela’s dream of a “rainbow nation,” starting with the Springbok colors of green and gold. The president’s plan is not without risk. In the face of daunting social and economic crises, even his closest advisors question why he is focusing on something as seemingly insignificant as rugby. Many also wonder how he can support the Springboks, especially at a time when black South Africans want to permanently eradicate the name and emblem they have long despised as a symbol of apartheid. But Mandela has the foresight to recognize that eliminating the white South Africans’ beloved rugby team will only widen the rift between the races to a point where it might never be bridged.
Putting the story in perspective, John Carlin, the author of the book Playing the Enemy, on which the film is based, explains, “What you have to understand is that the green shirt of the Springboks was a powerful reminder to black South Africans of apartheid. They hated that shirt because it symbolized, as much as anything else did, the tremendous indignities to which they were subjected. Mandela’s genius was to recognize that this symbol of division and hatred could be transformed into a powerful instrument of national unity.”
Screenwriter Anthony Peckham is a native of South Africa, giving him special insight to the story’s time and place. He adds, “Mandela realized he had a perfect opportunity to address the part of the electorate that had not voted for him…that, in truth, feared him. White South Africans followed the Springboks religiously, so to use the forum of the World Cup was brilliant. But it wasn’t just a game; it was the fact that Mandela embraced a team that black South Africans hated and almost by force of will dragged all of the people into following them.”
Nevertheless, a rugby match cannot be decided in the halls of government, so Mandela reaches out to the one man who can help him accomplish his objective: the captain of the Springbok team, Francois Pienaar. Matt Damon portrays the rugby player who suddenly finds himself in the center of a political arena. “Mandela basically asks him to exceed his country’s expectations and his own expectations and win the World Cup,” the actor says. “It’s an enormous request, but Francois knows that it’s actually bigger than any rugby match. And along the way, the entire team realize they have become an important instrument in bringing their country together. It’s a beautiful, inspiring story that shines a light on the best of who we are and what human beings are capable of. And what makes it more incredible is that it really happened.”
Francois Pienaar agrees with his onscreen counterpart. “I’ve always maintained that Hollywood could not have imagined a better story than what happened in South Africa in 1995. I was fortunate enough to be the captain of a wonderful group of men who were focused on uniting our country, and we could not have asked for a better leader than Nelson Mandela to help us do that.”
As the host country of that year’s World Cup, South Africa is automatically qualified to compete. But the Springboks were unarguable underdogs, largely because of their lack of experience on the world stage. Eastwood explains, “Because of apartheid, South Africa had been banned from participating in international sporting events for years. So no one thinks the Springboks have much chance of winning, including them. But they open themselves up to the possibility.”
The rainbow nation starts here. Reconciliation starts here. Forgiveness starts here. – Nelson Mandela in “Invictus”
“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 and his producing partner, Lori McCreary, 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.
McCreary says, “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 ‘95 World Cup, which eventually became Playing the Enemy. 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, John Carlin 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. The author recalls, “I said, ‘Mr. Freeman, I’ve got a movie for you.’ He asked me what it was about, and I told him, ‘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?’ I 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.” “Morgan 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…’ And before he even finished the sentence, Madiba said, ‘Ah, the World Cup.’ That’s when I knew we were heading in the right direction.”
About the same time, producer Mace Neufeld was also given Carlin’s proposal. He acknowledges, “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 states. “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.”
On a more personal note, 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 asserts, “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.”
“When we got Tony’s script, we all thought he had really hit a home run,” Neufeld says. “Now the question was who was going to direct it.”
There was only one answer. Morgan Freeman sent the screenplay to Clint Eastwood, 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.”
Producer Robert Lorenz adds, “Clint and I read the script and instantly agreed that it was definitely something we wanted to do. 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.”
Freeman remarks, “The entire project was like magnets coming together—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.”
How do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do? How do we inspire everyone around us? – Nelson Mandela in “Invictus”
Long before the production of “Invictus,” Morgan Freeman had been chosen for the role of Nelson Mandela by the one person that mattered most. The actor reveals, “Madiba was once asked who he would want to play him in a movie and he said ‘Morgan Freeman.’ When I first met him years ago, I told him I was honored that he had mentioned me to portray him.”
“Invictus” marks Freeman’s third collaboration with Eastwood, and Lorenz observes, “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. 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.”
Freeman, who has spent time with Mandela over the years and considers him a friend, says, “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…and then suddenly I had it.”
The actor 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.”
Like Freeman, Matt Damon had to master a South African accent to play Springbok Captain Francois Pienaar. But the role also presented the actor with more physical challenges, starting with the most obvious. “I immediately went online and started reading about Francois and realized that he’s a pretty big guy. I spoke to Clint and said, ‘You know, this guy is huge,’ and he said, ‘Hell, you worry about everything else. Let me worry about that.’”
“Matt may not be the same height as Francois, but he has the same tenacity and power,” Eastwood remarks. “He also worked out very hard and got himself in terrific shape for the film. And,” the director adds, “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. The actor relates, “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, and I said, ‘I look much bigger on camera.’”
Damon needn’t have worried, as 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.”
“Francois was an enormous help to me. He spent a lot of time answering my questions about a whole host of different things,” says Damon. “I felt a great sense of responsibility to do justice to him and this story because Francois has so much integrity and I believe Mandela is the greatest world leader of our time. It’s incredible what they did and also what their country did.”
Whether we like it or not, we’re more than just a rugby team… Times change. We need to change, as well. – Francois Pienaar in “Invictus”
In order to be ready to portray a veteran rugby player, Damon also got help from another star member of the 1995 Springboks, Chester Williams, who was then the only black member of the team. On “Invictus,” Williams served as a coach for the onscreen rugby players and was an invaluable resource for the filmmakers.
McCreary attests, “Chester was a great technical advisor because he remembers every single play and where every person was. He was in a unique position in 1995, being the only black player on the Springboks. He became kind of a symbol at the time, which wasn’t his choice because he really just wanted to play rugby. But he took on that mantle and ran with it. It was incredible to have him around and be the leader of our teams.”
“Chester wanted to make sure we played real rugby in the film,” Eastwood adds. “He said, ‘None of this fake movie stuff. We’re going to play proper rugby,’ as he put it. As you know, ‘proper rugby’ is a sport that’s very rough. It’s related to American football, but without any helmets or pads and players on both sides play offense and defense. It’s a very tough game, and the guys who play it are a special breed of cat.”
“Clint actually became a big rugby fan,” says Lorenz. “When we were in South Africa, he would watch hours of rugby every night and come in the next morning and talk about the games. He enjoyed it quite a bit.”
For the cast, preparing for the rigorous demands of actually playing rugby, “the training was very intense,” Damon states. “I did a lot of weightlifting and put on a lot of muscle. I also did sprints, which I’d never done before, and some boxing. When I got to South Africa, Chester said, ‘You look really fit. What have you been doing?’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve been weightlifting, boxing and sprinting.’ And he looked at me for a while and then goes, ‘Why didn’t you just play rugby?’” he laughs.
Damon got his chance to play rugby as he and the other actors spent time on the practice field. Eastwood notes, “When you’re an amateur depicting a professional, you have a lot of practicing to do to appear as skilled as these men were. All of the actors who hadn’t played rugby before had a lot of catching up to do. At the same time, we didn’t want our cast to get hurt out there playing with the pros, so we were kind of crossing our fingers the whole time.”
Scott Eastwood, another rugby novice, played the role of Springbok member Joel Stransky, who was responsible for all of the points scored by the team in the World Cup Final. In addition to learning the overall game, Scott had to train to kick what’s called a drop goal, similar to a field goal in American football.
Interestingly, Chester Williams was responsible for casting the man who plays him in the movie, McNeil Hendricks. Now working as a rugby coach, Hendricks had played professional rugby for years, including a stint with the Springboks in the late 1990s. He and Williams have known each other since their playing days, but it was happenstance that led to Hendricks playing his old friend in “Invictus.” Williams recounts, “We were looking for weeks, but none of the players was right. I was in a shopping center and I ran into McNeil Hendricks. I said, ‘I need you to come and play me,’ and I was so happy that he said yes.”
Hendricks says, “It was a great opportunity for me. Chester and I go back a long way, and we have similar personalities. When he played rugby, he was always smiling, and even when I spent lots of time getting knocked to the ground, I was always smiling, too. It was also spectacular to have a chance to work with people like Matt and Morgan and Clint Eastwood.”
Most of the rugby players—although representing different countries competing in the onscreen games—were cast in South Africa. Sports coordinator Aimee McDaniel was responsible for assembling the men who would comprise the various teams.
McDaniel started working on the project just four months before principal photography commenced. She worked closely with Chester Williams and his fellow rugby coaches, Rudolf De Wee and Troy Lee, to choose the right men for the teams. McDaniel recalls, “The first thing I had to do was get about 500 rugby players together in about two weeks, which was a challenge because the season was about to start. We went to every rugby club in the area and handed out flyers for an open audition. All these rugby players came in, and we tried them out—doing drills with Chester and the other coaches—and cut them down until we had our final group. From there, the more complicated task was to match the right look with the right position. We ended up with a very cohesive unit.”
Apart from playing rugby, the men playing the powerful New Zealand team, called the All Blacks, had to learn the traditional Maori war chant, called the Haka. “It’s meant to intimidate the opposing team even before the start of the game,” Eastwood explains.
Out of a sense of verisimilitude and “out of respect, we contacted the New Zealand Rugby Association to make sure the Haka would be done correctly,” Lorenz offers. “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.”
What’s past is past. We look to the future now. – Nelson Mandela in “Invictus”
There is another team that is very important to Mandela’s dream of a rainbow nation. At the start of the film, the new president asks the white staff members who had served President de Klerk to stay on in their jobs. His personal security team, led by Jason Tshabalala and Linga Moonsamy, is unfazed…until they discover that his edict also applies to them. Suddenly they find themselves working side by side with former members of the Special Branch, men who, until very recently, had threatened their freedom and their very lives.
Eastwood offers, “Mandela knows his personal bodyguards are the most visible members of his staff, so having both black and white members of the unit would show a very diverse group working together in his government. That is important very to him.”
“Mandela doesn’t just talk about forgiveness and reconciliation as something the rest of the country would have to do; he starts it within his own staff,” Anthony Peckham comments, adding that the integration of Mandela’s security team became a perfect microcosm of the larger story. “The ANC (African National Congress) and the Special Branch had been sworn enemies. So to bring them together with the sole purpose of protecting their now-mutual leader allowed me as a writer to personalize the notion of reconciliation and forgiveness in a way I couldn’t otherwise have done.”
Tony Kgoroge and Patrick Mofokeng play Jason Tshabalala and Linga Moonsamy, respectively. Matt Stern and Julian Lewis Jones were cast as Hendrick Booyens and Etienne Feyder, the onetime members of the Special Branch with whom Jason and Linga must now form a working trust in order to keep Mandela safe.
There are also important women in the lives of both President Mandela and Francois Pienaar. Adjoa Andoh plays Brenda Mazibuko, Mandela’s chief of staff, who cannot understand why the president is devoting so much time and energy to something as unimportant as rugby when there are so many more important matters at hand. Marguerite Wheatley appears as Pienaar’s then-fiancée, Nerine, who is a strong support for Francois as he faces the greatest challenge of his life.
It’s one of our anthems… It means “God Bless Africa,” which you have to admit, we could use. – Francois Pienaar in “Invictus”
In “Invictus,” the lingering shadows of apartheid are clearly seen when Francois Pienaar gives the Springboks the words to South Africa’s new national anthem, “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika,” which means “God Bless Africa” in Xhosa, the language of black South Africans. The song is not meant to replace the previous anthem, “Die Stem (The Voice of South Africa)” but will stand alongside it. Nevertheless, Francois’ efforts are met with strong resistance from his white teammates, who are still having difficulty yielding to the changing times.
The anthem is only one of the South African songs heard in the film, and composers Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens were also heavily influenced by the indigenous music of South Africa in creating the score. Coincidentally, Kyle Eastwood was already in South Africa at a jazz festival when the film came about, so, Clint Eastwood says, “I sent him to scout around and meet local music groups to see what he could find.”
The director continues, “When I got to South Africa, I listened to a lot of different bands. We used the Soweto String Quartet, which is a favorite band of Mandela’s. We also found Overtone, an a cappella group that we saw there and really liked.”
“We had many well-known musicians who heard about the project and wanted to be a part of it because of the importance of the story,” Lorenz says. “Ultimately, Clint went with music that spoke to him and fit his vision of what should be in the film. We incorporated the sounds of various South African musicians, which gave the music an authenticity and resulted in a unique and very eclectic score that serves the film beautifully.”
Do you hear that? Listen to your country. This is it. This is our destiny. – Francois Pienaar in “Invictus”
Principal photography on “Invictus” was accomplished entirely on location in South Africa. As often as possible, the filmmakers utilized the same locations where the actual events had unfolded.
Lorenz states, “For the entire cast and crew, being in South Africa drove home the significance of the story because we were constantly reminded of the effect it had on the people. Everybody we talked to could tell us where they were on the day of that final game and about the excitement they felt. It was just a moment in time that defined them and everyone could recall it vividly.”
“Being in the same places gave us all a sense of the reality of the story,” Mace Neufeld notes. “And then it was so amazing to be there less than 15 years after these events transpired and see what has been achieved. It was one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve had as a producer.”
Freeman agrees, noting that he felt a tangible difference in the country from his first visit more than a decade ago. “The first time I went to South Africa, when Mandela was president, there was electricity crackling in the air; there was a feeling of excitement and potential all around. But this time, everything was just moving along—no strain, no pressure—and that was great. It was fabulous to see that what was started then had become the status quo.”
“I would not have filmed this movie any other place but South Africa,” Eastwood declares. “You have to be there—you need the people, you need the places. We wanted that authenticity. The majority of our cast and all of our extras were South African. They also have a viable cinema group in South Africa, so we also had a nice ensemble of Americans and South Africans working together behind the scenes and their crew could not have been better.”
Eastwood also reunited with his key creative team, including director of photography Tom Stern, production designer James J. Murakami, editors Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach, and costume designer Deborah Hopper.
“Clint surrounds himself with people who share his sensibility,” Neufeld remarks. “It’s a remarkable combination. I just sat back in amazement watching him direct this movie. He’s very judicious in his approach to filming, and the cast and crew knew that they had to show up ready to go because he always is.”
Freeman, who is very familiar with Eastwood’s directing style, attests, “He’s quick; if he’s got it in one take, he’s moving on. I just love that. I also appreciate his quietude, which represents strength and control.”
Collaborating with Eastwood for the first time, Damon says, “He’s so fluent in the language of film; he knows exactly what will work in telling the story. As an actor, you feel very secure that you’re in very, very good hands. It was a great experience working with him.”
A majority of the filming took place in and around the coastal city of Cape Town. One of the key scenes shot there was Nelson Mandela’s visit to the Springbok training camp, filmed in an area called Tokai. When the company arrived that morning they discovered some unusual spectators had beaten them to the site: a group of baboons. Eastwood recounts, “We had to wait until the baboons exited, but as soon as the players got out there, they would stay on the sidelines or up in the trees. They looked at us like they were wondering, ‘What kind of crazy people are these?’” the director laughs.
The production also used a house in Cape Town for the interior of President Mandela’s home. Mandela’s personal assistant, Zelda la Grange, complimented the work of production designer James J. Murakami and his team, saying, “I know the house so well and they recreated it to perfection. The environment even felt the same. And then I heard Morgan Freeman speak—I didn’t see who it was at first—and I thought, ‘Now how did Mr. Mandela get here?’” she smiles. “I see Madiba almost every day, and that was the closest anyone could ever come to speaking and behaving like him.”
The exterior scenes of Mandela’s house were done at his actual residence in Johannesburg. Also in that city, the rugby games, including the climactic World Cup Final, were filmed at Ellis Park Stadium, where the games had really been played. Much of the stadium has changed since 1995, so Murakami’s department gathered extensive research to take the venue back to the way it looked at the time, including the appropriate signage of the day. Computer graphics were later employed to complete the effect, as well as to augment the 2,000-plus extras in the stands. Using motion capture techniques, the visual effects team was able to “sell out” the stadium with 62,000 cheering fans.
Like Murakami, costume designer Deborah Hopper needed to bring back the look of 1995, especially with regard to the Springbok uniforms, since the current team’s outfits are not the same. She explains, “There is a lot of difference in the uniforms. In 1995, the shorts were much shorter and the jerseys were cut fuller and boxier. And the fabric they used at that time was cotton; now it’s synthetic. We had to have the fabric specially knitted for us.”
Hopper and her team also had to duplicate the uniforms of the other teams, including the logos, many of which have also changed. In fact, the Springbok on the team’s logo now faces in the opposite direction from the logo of ’95.
In the film’s final match, the Springbok jersey is also donned by Nelson Mandela, which, Lori McCreary says, “was very significant because that jersey had been an anathema to black South Africans. So Mandela walking out in a Springbok jersey says to everyone, black and white, ‘We’re in this together now. Let’s all work together as one.’” The number on the back of Mandela’s jersey is a 6, in a show of solidarity with his friend and ally, Captain Francois Pienaar.
The scene in which Mandela and Francois first meet, in the president’s office, was filmed in the offices of the Union Buildings, the seat of government in the capital city of Pretoria. It marked the first time any movie had been filmed there.
However, the location that evoked the most emotion for the entire production team and cast was the prison on Robben Island, including the actual cell where Nelson Mandela was held for almost three decades. “We were all moved in different ways, mostly to silence,” McCreary remembers. “After that trip, we all connected to the story and to Mandela in a way we wouldn’t have been if we hadn’t shot those scenes out there.”
Eastwood reflects, “When we went to Robben Island, everybody was struck by how tiny the space was. And to spend 27 years there—maybe the best years of your life—and then come out and still not be bitter is quite a feat.”
The entire Springbok team travels to Robben Island to experience firsthand, if only for a moment, what it was like to be in that terrible place. It is there that Francois is reminded of the poem Nelson Mandela shared with him as a source of inspiration:
Invictus (2009)
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Scott Reeves, Bonnie Henna, Julian Lewis Jones, Langley Kirkwood, Marguerite Wheatley, Leleti Khumalo, Penny Downie, Bonnie Henna, Louis Minnaar
Screenplay by: Anthony Peckham
Production Design by: James J. Murakami
Cinematography by: Tom Stern
Film Editing by: Joel Cox, Gary Roach
Costume Design by: Deborah Hopper, Daryl Matthee
Set Decoration by: Leon van der Merwe
Art Direction by: Tom Hannam, Jonathan Hely-Hutchinson
Music by: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: December 11, 2009
Views: 84
