Idris Elba Hospitalized After Asthma Attack
Idris Elba has been hospitalized after suffering an asthma attack this weekend.
According to Sky News, Elba was on a plane headed to South Africa to attend the premiere of the Nelson Mandela biopic, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, when he suffered the attack. The British actor, who stars as the former South African president, was taken to the hospital before the plane left the UK.
The 41-year-old missed a news conference in Johannesburg, but producers hope he will recover in time for a planned red carpet appearance Sunday.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is based on Nelson Mandela’s 1994 autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Speaking at the festival, Idris Elba said there were a lot of challenges while making the film, but that it was to be expected.
“I moved to South Africa for about three months prior to shooting, just so that I could understand what South Africa was like… and to understand the tribes, especially Mr Mandela’s,” Elba said. “The challenges were massive but we embraced them. He had a very difficult life, so we weren’t expecting to make an easy film.”
In an interview with We Are Regal Radio, Nelson Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi Mandela, said she approved of the way the film told her father’s story.
“I found it very therapeutic,” Mandela told WARR contributor Brandon Robinson. “What I liked about Long Walk to Freedom is that it talks to my father as a boy who grew up in an African village and the impact that he had on the international sphere on the global level.”
Zindzi Mandela also praised Idris Elba’s portrayal of her father.
“I always joke and say that I get to call Idris Elba ‘daddy’ anytime. He brought so much depth to the role he played ? and I liked that he even tried to emulate his accent,” she said. “I think he did a good job, he actually brought him alive.”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Naomie Harris, who plays Nelson Mandela’s wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also received praise for her role. Harris met with Madikizela-Mandela personally, and called it a powerful, but intimidating experience.
“The Mandelas — both Winnie and Mandela, who were asked to sanction the movie — they were very generous about it and they just said, ‘Look, we want you to create the movie faithfully and truthfully, but we’re not going to be involved,'” she said. “And they were very hands-off about it.”
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom opens for a limited run in the United States on November 29. The film will hit UK theaters on January 3, 2014.
