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."
Invictus is released 5th February.
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