that these things happened to these people. I think there’s a feeling of regret in the U.K. Has the response you’ve received to the film been different in the U.S. These are things that you rarely see, cinematic speaking.ĭavid Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike in ‘A United Kingdom’ And you see an African man and an African leader who is in the driving seat of his own destiny. You see a love story that played across two continents and three countries. You see a great leader who was genuinely concerned with his people. īut I think, to keep on with that comparison, the great thing about A United Kingdom is that it shows a side of African life that we very rarely get to see. But it’s light fare, whereas this really happened and had a huge impact on Botswana, and was a massive event in U.K. I hope Eddie Murphy wouldn’t be offended with me calling it silly. I love Coming to America! But obviously that’s a silly version of the story. In the beginning, anyway.ĭavid Oyelowo: No, that’s not strange at all. Yahoo Movies: This is probably a poor comparison, but I couldn’t help thinking A United Kingdom felt like a dramatic counterpart to Coming to America. He talked to Yahoo Movies about United Kingdom (now on DVD/Blu-ray and Digital HD) and more in the candid interview below. In fact, four of his last five films ( A United Kingdom, Queen of Katwe, Five Nights in Maine, and Selma) have been directed by women, and that isn’t a coincidence. Oyelowo, 41, sought out a female director ( Belle‘s Amma Assante). The film is the illuminating true story of King Seretse Khama, a Botswanian royal who married white Briton Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) in the 1940s their coupling was condemned by both the English government and its small African colony, resulting in his exile from what was then known as Bechuanaland in 1951. He is also a vocal advocate for female filmmakers.Īs he was breaking through in Selma, the Oxford native born to Nigerian parents was in the lengthy process of developing A United Kingdom. biopic Selma (a role many believed deserved an Oscar nomination and helped launch the #OscarsSoWhite backlash) at the same time, he publicly bemoaned the lack of black men in British productions. Oyelowo rose to fame in Ava DuVernay’s 2014 Martin Luther King Jr. David Oyelowo is one of the most insightful ambassadors for inclusion in the film industry.