BEYOND THE RED CARPET - "A United Kingdom"

"Why actor David Oyelowo made sure this love story became a movie" PBS NewsHour 2/17/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In "A United Kingdom," a prince from southern Africa proposes to a British woman in late 1940s London.  Not only does race make the relationship fraught, but their marriage will have international consequences.  Jeffrey Brown sits down with actor and producer David Oyelowo to discuss the true, historical love story that got caught up in Colonial-era politics.

DAVID OYELOWO, Actor:  I'm not asking for an answer this very second.  All I ask of you is that you go away and think about it.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  In 1947 London, Seretse Khama, played by David Oyelowo, proposes to Ruth Williams, played by actress Rosamund Pike.

ROSAMUND PIKE, Actress:  I know what you're asking.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Their races make the relationship fraught.  But there's more:  He is a prince in his tribe in Southern Africa expected to return to lead his people, and their marriage will have international consequences.

“A United Kingdom” is based on a true story, and it was Oyelowo who first learned of it in a book titled “Color Bar” by Susan Williams.  More than just the film's star, he was the producer who brought director Amma Asante and others into the project.

DAVID OYELOWO:  What was indisputable to me was the power of the love between these two people, and it was that very thing that helped them overcome so many of these insurmountable obstacles and odds that they faced.

And, you know, as someone who is a real believer in love myself, and I mean, love in the truest sense, not movie love.  I'm talking about the unglamorous stuff of sacrifice, of courage.

JEFFREY BROWN:  I must say this film has movie love, because it's love at first sight almost, right?

DAVID OYELOWO:  But, you see, the thing about that is that we even have a name for it, the meet-cute.  You know, we have turned it into something that is so fantastical and so inaccessible that it has become fairy tale-like.

But, actually, what can happen — it doesn't happen every day, admittedly — is that two people see beyond their race, see beyond their cultural differences and their national differences.  And they just — two souls meet.

We should be fighting for equality.  That is where we should be focusing our minds, not on the wife I have chosen, who means you no harm.

"A United Kingdom" Official Trailer #1 (2016)