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Idris Elba to Play Nelson Mandela

MILAN, ITALY - JUNE 21: Idris Elba attends the Armani fashion show as part of Milan Fashion Week Menswear Spring/Summer 2012 on June 21, 2011 in Milan, Italy.on June 21, 2011 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images) Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/2011 Getty Images

Idris Elba can currently be seen in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and has already shot Ridley Scott’s sci-fi spectacle Prometheus and Guillermo Del Toro’s giant monster movie Pacific Rim, but for Elba’s next starring role, the actor’s got something a little more grounded in the works. “My big project this year, I’m gonna go play Nelson Mandela in Long Walk To Freedom, an autobiographical work written by Nelson Mandela himself, which highlights his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years in prison,†Elba tells Hip Hollywood. “That’s where my head is geared to this summer.†Hopefully, it’ll fare better than the recent Mandela movie Winnie, starring Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson, which got only middling reviews out of the Toronto Film Festival last year.

Idris Elba to Play Nelson Mandela