Morgan Freeman will play former South African President Nelson Mandela in The Human Factor, an independently financed drama, based on the upcoming John Carlin book “The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed the World.”
Variety says Freeman will produce the Mandela film with his Revelations Entertainment partner Lori McCreary and Mace Neufeld. South African scribe Anthony Peckham (Don’t Say a Word) wrote the script.
The film is set after the fall of apartheid, when South Africa was host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela was in his first term as South African president, and he used the event as a way to end decades of mistrust and hatred between whites and blacks.
Freeman and McCreary traveled to South Africa last year to discuss the project with Mandela.
“I have known Nelson Mandela personally for quite some time, and am continually in awe of his enormous presence in the world,” Freeman said. “The opportunity to portray him in this film is a great honor.”
