SOUTH AFRICA: ACTORS SYDNEY POITIER AND MICHAEL CAINE SPEAK ABOUT NEW FILM 'ONE MAN, ONE VOTE' AT PRESS CONFERENCE

Record ID: 460782

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: ACTORS SYDNEY POITIER AND MICHAEL CAINE SPEAK ABOUT NEW FILM 'ONE MAN, ONE VOTE' AT PRESS CONFERENCE
  • Date: 3rd May 1996
  • Summary: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (MAY 3, 1996)(RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. CU POSTER DEPICTING 1994 ELECTIONS - BRITISH ACTOR MICHAEL CAINE AS DE KLERK 0.07 2. SCU POSTER DEPICTING 1994 ELECTIONS - ACTOR SIDNEY POITIER AS SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA 0.11 3. SCU AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (ANC) POSTER - POITIER AS MANDELA 0.15 4. SCU POSTER WITH CAINE AS DE KLERK 0.20 5. GV NEWS CONFERENCE - POITIER AND CAINE SEATED WITH FILM "ONE MAN, ONE VOTE" DIRECTORS 0.27 6. MV POITIER TALKING ABOUT HIS FEELINGS RETURNING TO SOUTH AFRICA. SAYS IT IS DIFFICULT TO DESCRIBE. THERE ARE FEELINGS THAT ARE SO STRONG. SAYS HE SPENT 11 WEEKS IN SOUTH AFRICA THAT WERE VERY IMPRESSIVE ON HIS PSYCHE. SAYS WHEN THEY LANDED AT THE AIRPORT, WITHIN MINUTES HE BEGAN TO FEEL A DIFFERENCE (BETWEEN THE NEW AND OLD SOUTH AFRICAS) (ENGLISH) 1.16 7. SLV AUDIO RECORDISTS SITTING ON FLOOR WITH MICROPHONES 1.24 8. MV CAINE DESCRIBING HOW HE HAD SPOKEN TO DE KLERK AFTER THE LATTER HAD SEEN SOME OF THE SCRIPT. COMMENTS ON HOW HE (DE KLERK) POINTED OUT THAT HE NEVER ADDRESSED MANDELA AS "MANDELA", ALWAYS "MR. MANDELA". CAINE SAYS HE ASSURED DE KLERK THAT WOULD BE IN THE MOVIE (ENGLISH) 2.16 9. SCU FILM DIRECTOR JOSEPH SARGENT, ADDRESSING CONCERNS OF NON-SOUTH AFRICANS PLAYING THE LEADS. SAYS THERE WILL BE SOUNDS AND SMELLS OF THE ENVIRONMENT SO PEOPLE WILL NOT FEEL PEOPLE OF DIVERSE ETHNIC BACKGROUND ARE PLAYING THE ROLES (ENGLISH) 2.34 10. GV EXTERIOR MOUNT NELSON HOTEL 2.37 TRANSCRIPT SEQ. 6, POITIER, "IT'S DIFFICULT TO DESCRIBE, I DON'T THINK THERE ARE SUFFICIENT WORDS TO, BECAUSE THERE ARE FEELINGS ABOUT THE TWO EXPERIENCES THAT ARE SO STRONG. I SPENT 11 WEEKS HERE MAKING 'CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY' AND THEY WERE VERY IMPRESSIVE WEEKS ON MY PSYCHE. AND COMING BACK NOW, I CAME BACK WITH ALL THAT WHICH I TOOK AWAY AND WHEN WE LANDED AT THE AIRPORT HERE IN CAPE TOWN, WITHIN MINUTES I BEGAN TO FEEL A DIFFERANCE." TRANSCRIPT SEQ. 8, CAINE, "WHEN I WAS SPEAKING TO MR. DE KLERK, HE HAD SEEN SOME OF THE SCRIPT AND HE SAID, A SPECIFIC POINT HE MADE TO ME WHICH I THOUGHT WAS VERY RELEVANT, IS IN THE SCRIPT WHEN DE KLERK MEETS MR. MANDELA, BEFORE HE'S PRESIDENT, WHEN HE'S COMING OUT OF PRISON, HE CALLS HIM MANDELA. AND MR. DE. KLERK SAID TO ME I NEVER EVER CALLED HIM MANDELA, I ALWAYS CALLED HIM MR. MANDELA. AND I THOUGHT THAT WAS A VERY VALID POINT. HE SAID I ONLY EVER HAD RESPECT FOR HIM, I WOULD NEVER HAVE CALLED HIM MANDELA. I SAID NOT EVEN ON THE FIRST DAY YOU MEET HIM WHEN HE CAME OUT OF PRISON, HE WAS JUST A PRISONER, HE SAID NEVER, I ONLY EVER CALLED HIM MR. MANDELA. SO I SAID I ASSURE YOU THIS WILL BE IN THE MOVIE." TRANSCRIPT SEQ. 9, SARGENT, "THIS ENVIRONMENT, HOPEFULLY WILL BE PLACED AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE IN THE FILM SO THAT AT NO TIME WILL YOU FEEL THAT PEOPLE OF A DIVERSE ETHNIC BACKGROUND ARE PLAYING THESE ROLES." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 18th May 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
  • City:
  • Country: South Africa
  • Reuters ID: LVA5M8SKF9X3D3BYOO9510BLARGF
  • Story Text: - INTRO: Speaking at a press conference about the new film One Man, One Vote, Sidney Poitier said that within minutes of arriving in South Africa he could feel the difference between the old country and the new.

    --------------------------------------------------------- Actor Sidney Poitier gave a press conference with actor Michael Caine and film director Joseph Sargent on Friday (May 3) and spoke about their feelings about being a part of the new film One Man, On Vote, based on the last years of South African President Nelson Mandela's captivity and the relationship between him and FW De Klerk after his release.

    Poitier, whose film credits include "In the Heat of the Night "Cry, the Beloved Country" and "Sneakers" said in Cape Town he was honoured to play Mandela.

    British actor Michael Caine said President Nelson Mandela and his deputy F.W. de Klerk probably never liked each other but were forced to work together to free South Africa from apartheid.

    He said when he met F.W. de Klerk he found him to be a funny and kind person who always referred to Nelson Mandela as "Mr Mandela".

    Caine, who plays the part of de Klerk -- South Africa's last white president -- in a $5 million U.S. television movie about the country's historic 1994 all-race elections, said he believed the two men respected each other.

    The film, which has the working title of "One Man, One Vote", stars American actor Sidney Poitier as Mandela and will be filmed over 25 days on location in Cape Town.

    He said the film was quite a sentimental journey for them both, particularly with their background of doing an anti-apartheid film 23 years ago which could not be shot in the country and now being back as 'presidents'.".

    The film's director, Joseph Sargent, said the film was not an adaption of Mandela's Autobiography, "Long Walk To Freedom". The film would focus on Mandela's later years in prison and the negotiation process which led to the all-race polls, he said.

    The film will be syndicated on American television.

    The casting of foreign actors to star in the film recently caused an uproar among local actors, who questioned the wisdom of hiring outsiders to portray South Africans.


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