South African actor, writer, director and producer Thabo Rametsi (Silverton Siege) has been unveiled in his role as activist and music legend Hugh Masekela in Bill Condon’s The Road Home as the filming continues in South Africa.
A first-look image released by the film’s backers and producers Canal+, Studiocanal and Flora Film as well as South African co-producer Blue Ice, shows Rametsi as Masekela, who lived in exile in the UK and the U.S. for 30 years after fleeing his native South Africa in the wake of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, playing his trumpet.
The film follows Masekela as he finds himself at a crossroads when the Anti-Apartheid Movement, led by anti-apartheid advocate and mentor Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, launches a boycott against his friend Paul Simon over his township music-inspired album Graceland, accusing Simon of violating the United Nations’ Cultural Boycott.
Masekela, who saw music as a powerful weapon in the anti-apartheid struggle, would split with Huddleston to join forces with fellow exile and lifelong collaborator, powerhouse vocalist Miriam ‘Mama Africa’ Makeba to create the Graceland band, a super group designed to bring South Africa’s voice to the world.
As previously announced, Rametsi is joined in the cast by Guy Pearce as Huddleston; Johnny Flynn as Simon and Cynthia Erivo as Makeba.
“When you tell the story of Giants you must shout it from the highest mountain. These are our giants and this film is the highest mountain we could find. We hope our humble tribute honours them accordingly,” said Rametsi, who is EP on the film.
Condon (Gods and Monsters) directs from an original script written by Michael Bronner (The Mauritanian, United 93), from a story by Bronner and Zakes Mda.
The Canal+ and Studiocanal-backed feature is produced by Academy Award-nominated producer Laura Bickford (Traffic, Che Part 1 and Part 2, Arbitrage), Bronner, Greg Yolen (Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Good Liar), and Anant Singh (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Sarafina!), in association with Blue Ice’s producers Tebogo Maila and Adam Friedlander and with executive producers Fiona Druckenmiller, and Rametsi.
