Actor-turned-filmmaker Chiwetel Ejiofor set himself the task of learning a new African language to add to the authenticity of his new movie The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
The film is based on William Kamkwamba's memoir of the same name, and revisits his childhood growing up in Malawi, where he learned how to build a wind turbine to help save his village from famine.
The 12 Years a Slave star fell in love with the story following its release in 2009, and thought it would make a great movie.
"It's such a deeply inspiring story of tenacity and optimism: a young boy in very challenging circumstances with his family and the community, but just really living in the solution and trying to find a way through this very difficult time," Ejiofor marvelled.
It took him a decade to get the film to the big screen, and when he initially began developing the project as his directorial debut, the Brit thought he would be "too young" to play William's father, Trywell.
"I was (in my)... early 30s or something, and I just felt like, he's got two teenage kids, and my playing age (onscreen) is 25," he told U.S. breakfast shot Today. "But then, over the years, slowly but surely, I sort of started to move right into the sweet spot and thought, 'Oh, OK, now I can probably do it.'"
Ejiofor wanted to make sure he did the Kamkwamba family justice onscreen, so he and his castmates spent months mastering the local language of Malawi.
"I spent a lot of time learning Chichewa, which is the language in Malawi," the 41 year old shared, "and just working with a lot of people on it. We cast a lot of people who are Malawians who speak Chichewa in the film, so that was very useful as well, but then I cast around.
"Aissa Maiga, who plays Agnes, my wife in the film, she's from Paris; Lily Banda, who plays my daughter, she's from Malawi, and then Maxwell Simba, who plays William Kamkwamba, he's actually Kenyan, but an incredible young actor..., so (there was) a group of us learning Chichewa together, and trying to really find that family bond."
The movie, which was filmed in Malawi, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah last month (Jan19), and is now set to be released in select U.S. and U.K. theatres and on streaming service Netflix on Friday (01Mar19).
