This might actually be the love story to end all love stories and the crazy thing is that hardly anyone is familiar with this incredible true story. Entertainment Weekly have now offered us a first look at the upcoming film. But first, here’s what the story is about:
In June 1947 Prince Seretse Khama, the heir to the throne of Botswana, met and fell in love with Ruth Williams, an English clerk at Lloyd’s of London, and after a year’s courtship they were married. Their interracial marriage sparked a scandal and led to Seretse and his bride spending six years in exile in London.
Selma star David Oyelowo first discovered the couple’s story in 2010 when he read Susan Williams’ book The Colour Bar, and has since then been determined to bring this incredibly inspiring story to the big screen. “I was so struck by the level of challenge they faced simply for falling in love with each other that I became completely intoxicated with it,” Oyelowo told EW.
“I also realized in reading the story I had never seen an African love story of this cinematic scope. It spoke to me as an African, as a man, as a romantic”. Oyelowo has dedicated six years of his life to transforming The Colour Bar into A United Kingdom. The film is written by Guy Hibbert and directed by Belle helmer Amma Asante.
In order to get Rosamund Pike on board Oyelowo sent her an e-mail, “I went straight to my computer and I sent her images of these two people with the note ‘Take a look. Tell me what you think,’” he revealed. “She wrote me back the most impassioned e-mail: ‘I don’t know who these people are. I don’t know what they’ve done with their lives. But I’m so moved by them, tell me more’”.
Oyelowo added that “Botswana is a different country for the fact that these two people got married. It has a different relationship to race, partly because of them. That in and of itself is miraculous”. British distributor Pathe will finance and release it internationally. Pathe are currently planning to bring the film to Berlin Film Festival (February 11-20) and are anticipating a fall release.
Head on over to EW to read the full interview and look at the first beautiful photo from the film.
Exclusive: See a first look at David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike in 'A United Kingdom': https://t.co/aSsOovRUtt pic.twitter.com/CXfexT3eo2
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) January 29, 2016
#Peace.Love.AUnitedKingdom
