Will The Death Of Nelson Mandela Bring High Profile To New Biopic And Its Star?

By Thomas Broome-Jones

Last week, I was lying on my bed just casually surfing the net when I heard that Nelson Mandela, one of the single most influential figures of all-time, had passed away at age 95. Because I'm an utter film nerd, it wasn't long before I started to consider the effect his passing would have on the new biopic, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, based on Mandela's autobiography of the same name. The film has already premiered and has actually received a somewhat mixed response from critics, but then so did The Iron Lady and that still won Meryl Streep almost every award under the Sun, including the Oscar.

Elba's performance has received universal critical praise.

We do indeed seem to be in a generation of biopic acclaim, in fact, since 2000, 20 actors, male and female, have won an Oscar across all acting categories for portraying  real people out of a possible 52. That's a pretty large figure in my mind, and whilst Morgan Freeman didn't manage to net the prized golden statue for his portrayal of Mandela in the 2009 sports film, Invictus, I believe Idris Elba has a much better chance of taking home Oscar gold due to the circumstances. We need only look to the significant amount of hype generated from Christopher Nolan's 2008 superhero epic, The Dark Knight. Batman Begins, the first installment in Nolan's acclaimed Batman trilogy, managed to net just under $375,000,000 at the global box office and received just one Academy Award nomination (for Best Cinematography). Fast-forward to the build towards its sequel 3 years later and there is a shock sent throughout the world as the new Joker, Heath Ledger, tragically dies under mysterious drug-related circumstances. The Dark Knight would go on to make over a billion dollars at the box office, becoming the first ever superhero film to do so and was, at the time, the highest-grossing superhero film in history. It also received a whopping eight Academy Award nominations and Ledger completed a posthumous near clean-sweep of the industry's acting awards that year.

Many people, myself included, believe that a significant amount of The Dark Knight's success can be attributed to the highly-publicized death of Heath Ledger. Now, I know that Idris Elba hasn't died but how many people will flock to the theatres now to see the film based on the incredible life of Mandela in his memory? I'm willing to wager a lot. I'm fully aware that much of The Dark Knight's Oscar attention came from the fact that it was one of the most highly acclaimed films that year but as The Iron Lady proves, a tremendous performance will generally receive attention regardless of the film's critical notoriety. Elba has consistently been touted as the strongest thing about the film and it isn't surprising, his performances in The Wire and Luther quickly established him as an incredibly charismatic and gifted actor, the latter winning him a Golden Globe Award.

Immediately after Mandela's passing was announced, I saw many tweets and Facebook statuses from people saying how they were going to watch Invictus in tribute to the man. How fitting then, that a film about his life story is out. I can see Long Walk to Freedom becoming a runaway box office success, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was re-packaged and marketed as a film dedicated to Mandela's memory. Coupling this potential high profile with what has been called "a towering performance" and "commanding" by critics, I think that the balance will tip in Mr. Elba's favour and that his chance to win The Academy Award for Best Actor just shot up dramatically.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is in cinemas now, it has a 12A certificate.

Thomas Broome-Jones is on Twitter, you can follow him @TBroomey.