Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) and Vince Vaughn (Hacksaw Ridge) are set to appear as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Piet Blomfield respectively in the post-apartheid drama The Archbishop and the Antichrist. The film is to be directed by Ronald Joffe (The Killing Fields) and produced by KS Productions.
Based on a play by Michael Ashton, the film is about a fictional encounter between Desmond Tutu and Blomfield, the latter a murderer looking to redeem himself. 13 Films will be working on the International Rights of the film and Tannaz Anisi, the company’s President, was quoted last year as saying, “Forest Whitaker brings a great sense of depth and power to all his performances and he is the perfect match for Tutu’s complex character”.
The South African reported two weeks ago that “shooting is due to begin next year” even making a tongue-in-cheek comment as to the speculation with respect to the accents the actors will perform. Whitaker is a “UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation” who started his journey in motion pictures with Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He won the Oscar for playing Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.
Desmond Tutu is a recipient of The Nobel Peace Prize and said of the award, “It opened doors which was important for our people”. Desmond Tutu stands among the world’s foremost human rights activists today.
The Archbishop and The Antichrist as been in development for years, so it will be a relief to see filming commence within the next year. A release date for the film has not yet been locked in, however, will will have updates on the film as they become available.
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