An Interview with Actor David Oyelowo about his film A United Kingdom

It was an honor and a privilege to talk to David Oyelowo

I have only seen a few films that David Oyelowo has been in. He was really good in Queen of Katwe, and did a good job in Captive. His newest movie A United Kingdom tells an amazing true story, and is his best work yet. I was able to interview him and here is what I learned about this talented actor.

How did you get into acting?

David Oyelowo: Well, it was a bit of an accident really. I was basically infatuated with my partners daughter at around the age of 18. She invited me to the theater, I thought it was a date. She took me to a youth theater group where they were low on boys. I liked her enough that I kept on going. Before I knew it I caught the bug. Which led to 3 years at the Royal Shakespeare Company, then to TV and into films.

Was Queen of Katwe your first film, or had you done films before that?

David Oyelowo: Oh no, I had done several films before that. I had done Selma before Queen of Katwe. I was also in The Last King of Scotland, The Help and Planet of the Apes. I had done several films before then. My film career kind of began in the UK about 14 years ago now.

Was Queen of Katwe one of your first starring roles?

David Oyelowo: Uh, no it wasn’t. I had done a film called Nightingale before then and Captive as well. Those were films that came out here in the States.

 

So how did you here about the story of A United Kingdom?

David Oyelowo: I heard about it while I was on a set of a film called 96 minutes that was shooting in Atlanta. The producers of that film had auctioned a book called Color Bar that was about Karetse Khama and Ruth Williams. Their marriage and the fallout from their marriage. I just became completely intoxicated by the story. As a person of African descent myself I just couldn’t believe I didn’t know about this story. It was exactly the kind of film I hadn’t seen out of Africa that I knew existed. As my notoriety as an actor began to grow I had the opportunity to enable something like this to come to fruition.

What was the biggest challenge for you in bringing this film to life?

David Oyelowo: Well one of the biggest challenges is that I happened upon the book earlier on in my career. I hadn’t done bigger movies like Selma for instance. I always knew that I wanted to play Seretse Khama. But it’s a film set in the 40’s and it is an epic film. Therefore it needs a sizable budget to get made. Earlier on, financiers and film studios were not in a hurry to have me be the lead of the film. One of the challenges was knowing I wanted to do this one day but also knowing that I was probably going to have to wait until my star rose a little bit more before getting the opportunity.

What did you use as motivation to help yourself become Seretse Khama?

David Oyelowo: Well thankfully there is a fair bit of newsreel footage of him. That was a big part of my research. The book Color Bar that Susan Williams wrote about him which was a big part of our research and our knowledge of this. Also talking to the family. Their son is the current president of Botswana. And several of their family members are still around. In fact, up until quite recently Seretse’s sister and Ruth’s Williams sister were alive. Both passed away unfortunately just before we started shooting. But they were a huge resource in terms of our preparation. And the fact that we actually shot part of the film in Botswana was a huge advantage as well. The house that you see myself and Rosamund Pike inhabiting in the film is actually the exact same house that the real Ruth and Seretse lived in when they were alive. In fact, the hospital you see Rosamund Pike giving birth in is the same one that Ruth Williams gave birth in as well. All of those things lend themselves to the authenticity of the film.

How daunting was it to shoot in that exact house where these two amazing people had actually lived?

David Oyelowo: It actually wasn’t daunting, it was incredibly comforting. You can never predict what it is going to be like to be in the exact environment these characters were in. it just felt like a very grounding element for us. It just felt so right. More often than not when you are making a film you have to sort of accept the fact that you are going to be in an entirely different setting then where real events happened. But the opportunity we had was very special. The very first scene that we shot was in that house. It just felt like a great launch pad for the rest of the shoot.

 

What was it like meeting the descendant of Seretse and Ruth?

David Oyelowo: Well we had an extraordinary moment with the president where he came to set of this film. What he ended up saying was “I never thought I would see my mother and father again”. You can only read into that that he felt we were doing a good job of representing his parents. We now know that is exactly how he felt. In fact, I learned just two days ago the film is going to be going on a national tour around Botswana. That he is showing the people who couldn’t get to the movie theater or can’t afford to go to a movie theater. And that is a government program. That shows how he feels about it. But I also know that it is a huge source of pride for them as a nation. Especially as a lot of people outside of Botswana don’t know much about them or indeed where it is. In many ways they feel like the film has put their country on the map.

What are some projects you are working on in the near future?

David Oyelowo: I have a film that is a part of the Cloverfield anthology that J.J Abrams produced and Julius Onah has directed. That will be out on October 27th. That will be a sort of eye popping Sci-Fi movie that I can’t say anymore about or J.J. will find me and kill me. Then I have a film called Gringo coming out. It is an action comedy on March 9th of next year. So those are the next ones coming down the pike.

What would be some advice you would give to people who want to get into acting?

David Oyelowo: I was say treat it like a craft. Treat it like a surgeon treats the idea. Or the aspiring surgeon I should say in terms of that training. It is something that you get set for when you treat it as a craft to be learned. As opposed to something that you go into because you feel like it. Or people have told you are good looking or whatever. That’s the way you can make a career of it. Because if you go in without training or respect of it as a craft. Even if you get opportunities they will dry up very quickly if all you are doing is factoring the same thing over and over again. So that would be the thing I would say. Treat it with respect and it will respect you back.

A United Kingdom is out on Blu-Ray, DVD and On Demand now. You can follow David Oyelowo on Facebook and Twitter.