Cape Town - A six-part US miniseries based on the life and times of Nelson Mandela is set to film in part on Robben Island, where South Africa’s first democratically elected president was imprisoned for 18 years.
Principal photography on Madiba, directed by Kevin Hooks (Prison Break, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), started in the country on Monday.
The miniseries, starring Laurence Fishburne as Mandela, has been adapted from the books Conversations with Myself and Nelson Mandela by Himself.
Other than filming on Robben Island, scenes will be shot in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Dynamic Television, which recently acquired the worldwide distribution rights, announced this week that Fishburne will be joined by US actor and comedian Orlando Jones as Oliver Tambo, president of the ANC from 1967 to 1991.
Jones, 47, has visited South Africa previously, headlining the Nando’s Comedy Festival in 2012 at the Walter Sisulu Centre in Soweto and at Artscape.
David Harewood (Supergirl, Homeland) has also joined the cast, although his role has not yet been made public.
The role of Winnie Mandela, who was married to Mandela from 1958 and 1996, and of Graça Machel have yet to be announced.
Dynamic Television said in a statement that the series told “the epic tale of Nelson Mandela’s heroic journey to bring racial equality and democracy to the people of South Africa”.
The miniseries is being produced and financed by Canada’s Blue Ice Pictures.
Also producing are South Africa’s Out of Africa Entertainment, the UK’s Leftbank Pictures, and Fishburne’s Cinema Gypsy Productions.
It will be broadcast in six 52-minute episodes, and is set to premier in the US on the BET Network next year.
BET describes itself as the US’s “leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience”.
There is no word yet of when the series will be broadcast in South Africa.
In taking on the role of Mandela, Fishburne will join a host of international actors who have portrayed the celebrated statesman.
The list includes Idris Elba in 2013’s Long Walk to Freedom, Morgan Freeman in 2009’s Invictus, Sidney Poitier in 1997’s Mandela and de Klerk, and Danny Glover in 1987’s Mandela.
Meanwhile Elba, who was at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival last weekend, will be returning to South Africa to film an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.