(Sorry, Netflix.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When did this project start for you?
Thats what I sort of wrote about.
Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
I struggled with it for a couple of years, but ultimately put it aside to writeSin Nombre.
For me, it was the perfect boiled-down emotional experience that I was looking for.
I had been trying to throw in too much context and politics and everything else.
Focus Features optioned the book for me in 2006, and I started writing a screenplay that year.
I got it out of there and found Red Crown maybe around early 2011 or 2010.
They said they wanted to do it, and they waited patiently.They waited for me to doTrue Detective.
It was because the story has been obviously near and dear to me for many years.
When I said earlier that it has been years in the making, it even predates the script itself.
Was it difficult to keep up your enthusiasm for it over the years?
When I wrote it originally, I thought it was a short, contained, solid screenplay.
I was pretty happy with it, and I liked it for its simplicity.
That never went away, and my connection to the story never went away.
What did having Idris Elba mean for getting the movie made?
The guy has gravitas.
You cant deny it.
By no means is this a Kony story.
This is not trying to be anything about the Lords Resistance Army.
Hes somehow able to communicate through his acting.
Thats a rare skill, and theres a small set of people in this world who have that.
In terms of getting him on board, that was a coup.
His mother is from Ghana.
His father is from Sierra Leone.
Until this movie, he had never been to Ghana.
He had been to Africa, obviously.
He had been to Nigeria, South Africa, and other places, but never to his motherland.
I also think it was just a great opportunity for him to reconnect with that part of himself.
It legitimized what we were trying to do.
Youve directed children in all of your work.
Has it gotten easier?
I think it just comes down to casting really.
People just wouldnt do it.
We put it on the radio, on TV, everything.
It really required going out into the community and trying to find people.
They have a lot of horse riding on the beaches in Ghana.
you’re free to see it on the screen.
You just see it in his face that hes got no problem with what hes about to do.
Where did you find Abraham Attah?
Abraham was found on a soccer pitch.
Hes a street vendor.
His parents are street vendors.
He goes to school sometimes, but he was behind on his education.
He wasnt homeless, but he definitely was not found in a school.
What does the Netflix release mean to you as a filmmaker?
If they can have an emotional experience with my movie, then thats everything I want.
