James Mottram
English born and bred David Oyelowo had been delivering consistently impressive work in both the UK and US before he broke through in a big way playing Dr Martin Luther King Jr. in 2014’s Selma. Recently seen in Queen of Katwe and coming up in A United Kingdom, the actor, like many other film industry leaders of colour, has become a vocal proponent for diversity on our screens.
In the based on a true story A United Kingdom he plays Oxford-educated African King Seretse Khama who in 1965 became independent Botswana’s first president. Before that, in 1948, he married a white Englishwoman, Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), which caused scandal in Apartheid South Africa and the British protectorate of Bechuanaland (later Botswana). Written by Guy Hibbert (Eye in the Sky) and Directed by Amma Asante (Belle), above all the politics is a beautiful love story for the ages.
We spoke with David Oyelowo when A United Kingdom opened the London Film Festival earlier this year.
You’ve were attached to A United Kingdom for 6 years. What difficulties did you have to overcome to get this film made? “It’s worth noting that films generally take a while, especially these kind of films. 2010 was the first time I was handed the book [Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation by Susan Williams, published in 2007] so, between getting a book and having a movie, is going to take time anyway. Like you say, developing the script, having all the right people on board. But there were challenges outside of that as well. The truth of the matter is I obviously wanted to play Seretse Khama 6 years ago. I had nowhere near the notoriety or profile that could corral the millions of dollars you need to make a film. Thankfully my career grew over that period, but still, we struggled; there’s still resistance, unfortunately, to films with a black protagonist at the centre. There’s still this notion that the audience is less open to that kind of film. The likelihood is that they will make less money, they’re more risky, and so that was definitely a factor that played into it, but I’ve learnt that tenacity and determination are the way to get these films made.”
You were the driving force on this project, and it’s similar to what happened in Selma. In both cases you’ve reached out to black female directors that you have spotted. “The pattern for me there is that I think we’re all on the same page about the fact that there are inequities in the film industry that have to be addressed, and you want to address them just because inequity is wrong. But we are missing out on a very rich perspective by having so few female directors directing movies. I saw first hand the difference between Ava DuVernay directing Selma, and what that film would have been in male hands. It doesn’t mean that a male director would have made a less good film, it’s just the perspective that we have seen time and again. And what happened in Ava DuVernay’s hands is that the female characters became stronger, the character I played, Dr King, she was as interested in his emotional life, as his political life. She wanted to know what his life as a husband, as a father, as a friend was. I was part of that film in the development stages, when it was men who were looking at directing it, and there wasn’t as much of a predisposition to concentrate on that. Having experienced that with that film, and A United Kingdom being a love story, you really do not want the focus to be the politics. I mean people are going to just check out. Especially antiquated politics. The politics of 70 years ago, between 3 countries: South Africa, Botswana and the United Kingdom. And also, it’s a film that straddles two continents. It’s an African story, it’s a European story. Amma (Asante), like me, is of African descent, as well as identifying as British, so she’s a perfect candidate to direct it. Unfortunately, we still live in a world where the fact that she’s female, is somehow rare and special, and anomalous, but that should just not be the case.”
Queen of Katwe, which just came out and you feature, is another film directed by a female, Mira Nair. “Again, a female director, and she focuses on the young girl. I think if it was a male director, the temptation might have been to focus on me, the coach, which is what we tend to see. The coach goes in, helps these kids become triumphant… So perspective matters, that’s why in my opinion we need different people telling different films, because then we get the richness of different perspectives.”
Is there a special appeal for you to play leaders? “In relation to certainly the narrative around Africa, I have seen so much of black people being represented as subservient, or on the periphery of stories, that I personally think they should have been the centre. I have been starved, as a man, as an actor, certainly when I was younger, of images that reflect the world I actually live in. As I’ve gained in notoriety as an actor I hold myself responsible to being part of redressing the balance. When Selma first came my way, the script was more focused on Lyndon Baines Johnson, than it was Dr King. I think in different hands, A United Kingdom may have been seen more through Ruth’s eyes, because that’s the perspective that you could say is more palatable to a Western audience, which is where these films, historically need to do best, financially. But you know, with me being a producer, and Amma being the director, our perspective matters. So I think the reason why I’ve been drawn to those characters is because I’ve not seen enough of them, and I want to see that in the world.”
Do you consider yourself a role model in addressing these issues? You’ve also spoken out against a lack of adversity at the Oscars. “A reluctant role model. I just love telling stories. I love the power of the medium I’m in. I do think it’s a medium that not only can entertain, but can educate, and can be a mirror to us as to who we are and why we are the way we are, and I think that’s powerful. I really am bored to tears of talking about diversity. In fact, when I was about to do this press tour, I just thought ‘Let me just go and look at interviews of actors I admire and what they have to talk about during their press talks’. So I watched Daniel Day Lewis, I watched Michael Fassbender, and they get to just talk about what it was like to work on the character, and the director, and why they wanted to do the movie. Not once does the film get politicised. Even when Daniel Day Lewis gets to play Lincoln, they never talk once about anything akin to what I have to endure with diversity. But, if I want to see a change, then we’ve got to keep calling out the fact that there are still problems that need addressing.”
It can be a bit reductive when it gets reduced to that. “It’s incredibly reductive, and it ghettoises the films. What it essentially does is it goes ‘And these are great movies. Oh these are black movies! And they’re directed by women! And then these are the great movies over here’. It’s not why I make movies. I don’t think of A United Kingdom as a black film. I don’t think of it as a champion for diversity. I just think it’s a great story that should be told and has, I hope, universal appeal. But, unfortunately, Amma is still rare. A story like this is still rare, and what tends to happen when these films come along, is everyone goes ‘Oh, things are changing!’ Well they’re not! What we need is momentum that is consistent. And that’s only going to happen when the people who are making the decisions as to what films get made, look different to what they currently look like. By and large, they are white men who are representing their world view, and that just needs to change.”
Do you think A United Kingdom, even through title alone, sends the right message to the current state in the West? “Yeah! I think the rise of Nationalism, certainly here in the U.K, and in America where I live, and the national identity that certain sections of society are adhering to; are trying to propagate, as opposed to others, a resistance to the diversity of the countries… A resistance to…in America, for instance, being an immigrant nation foundationally, and then trying to go back to some notion of it not being an immigrant nation. That to me is why these films are important because they are a reminder to us of how we have failed in the past, and how we have to be better. And I think when you humanise these heroes, these icons; what we tried to do with Dr King [in Selma], and what we certainly tried to do with both Ruth and Seretse [in A United Kingdom], is to see a love, that had nothing to do with race, and it was just two human beings who loved each other, and all of the prejudice was from outside, and if you can relate to them, then just maybe you will check your own prejudices, your own resistance to racial marriage, immigrants, whatever it is, because at the end of the day, they’re just two people who loved each other, and that should be ok, and allowed.”
A year ago for Selma we were talking about some of the same things. Do you think something has changed for the better? Even just a little bit? “I’m trying to be really careful about not getting too happy too soon. And what I mean by that is I remember having conversations like this about 3 years ago, when we had 12 Years a Slave, The Butler, Mandela, Fruitvale Station, and then the OscarsSoWhite happened immediately after. And that’s my point. Selma took 7 years. A United Kingdom took 6 years. What can sometimes happen is you get all these films that people have been struggling to get made for years, and every now and again, anomalously, you get these films all emerge at the same time. Everyone pats themselves on the back and goes ‘Wow! We’re much better now!’ But the people making the decisions about what films get made remain the same group of people, and it’s people like me, or Amma, or Barry Jenkins (upcoming Moonlight) or Ryan Coogler, who’ve been struggling, struggling, struggling, and ‘Here we are, here we are!’, and then this apathy sets in, where we go ‘Oh, we fixed that problem’, and then you go 2 years straight where there are scant movies coming out, and that’s a reflection of the fact that not enough decision makers…You know Queen of Katwe doesn’t get made at Disney without Tendo Nagenda, who is a Ugandan executive of Disney! And you need more of that in order for us to truly no longer have this conversation. Films should reflect the society we live in, all the time.”
A United Kingdom is in cinemas from December 26, 2016 and is also the January ClubInk Movie-of-the-Month. Also, read our interview with Amma Asante.
