Send them some good info:GENOCIDE OF WHITES SOUTH AFRICA.Why Clint Eastwood’s Mandela film is being madeWarner Brothers studio executives were camped out at The Mount Nelson in Cape Townthis summer. They sipped Castle Lager from frosted glasses and name-dropped to thepretty girls at the bar. “Clint, Morgan, Matt? Great guys. Solid. Sure, I couldarrange for you to meet Matt Damon, he’s in the room next to mine.”They were producing Invictus: Clint Eastwood’s account of the 1995 rugby world cupand general South African transformation. The suits pitched the film, while drunkat the Mount Nelson, as representing South Africa’s triumphs being taken seriouslyon a global scale. Two words you can’t say to a Warner Brothers executive or anySouth African who believes the upcoming film is a national compliment, a Hollywoodbackslap or a worldwide thank you for a democracy well done: Gran Torino. That’sthe name of a small budget, competent film that Eastwood starred in, directed andsang the theme song to — he croons to the closing credits exactly as a 79-year-oldshould.It’s set in American suburbia and cost $33 million to make and scooped $262million worldwide. This huge profit gave Eastwood license to do whatever picturehe wanted. Warner Brothers asked him for a Christmas list and Eastwood chose toadapt a book by John Carlin into Invictus.Eastwood, if he had a South African bent, could have requested to do a PumpkinPatch live action trilogy and Warner Brothers would have obliged, letting him re-record the theme song. But that’s Hollywood — and easy to forget when you seepictures of a bleached-hair Damon and a Mandela-looking Freeman.It’s our recent history endorsed by major celebrities — this isn’t a local, SABCsoap-star production. There are American dollars fuelling this picture. SouthAfricans thrive on international recognition, it swells us with pride. If MorganFreeman wins an Oscar then South Africans will take this as a personal compliment:an indirect nod to the whole country from the academy.If it’s terrible (and that doesn’t exclude an Oscar win) then there are worseembarrassments than a clunking, sprawling film. Eastwood butchered Midnight in theGarden of Good and Evil, John Berendt’s well-crafted and hilarious novel (set inSavannah, Georgia) where brilliant actors spouted terrible accents. If thishappens we’ll scratch it up to a foreigner not understanding Africa’s complexity.What will be disturbing is a world interest for the wrong reasons. In the statesEastwood could have another $262 million box-office if people draw a viciouscomparison between 1995 and our recent election. The studio could see financiallegs for the film as a period piece, of a time that has since evaporated. To see aMandela who isn’t frail, a country without Zuma elected and a divided countrypromising a future of unity. The rugby winning, though, we’ve definitely keptsorted.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Clint Eastwood needs info on SPIN DOCTOR MANDELA.Also Warner Brothers studio.Also Matt Damon
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