The Last King of Scotland
First Look
In Select Theaters October 4, 2006
Charming. Magnetic. Murderous.
In an incredible twist of fate, a Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) on a Ugandan medical mission becomes irreversibly entangled with one of the world's most barbaric figures: Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). Impressed by Dr. Garrigan's brazen attitude in a moment of crisis, the newly self-appointed Ugandan President Amin hand picks him as his personal physician and closest confidante. Though Garrigan is at first flattered and fascinated by his new position, he soon awakens to Amin's savagery - and his own complicity in it. Horror and betrayal ensue as Garrigan tries to right his wrongs and escape Uganda alive.
STARRING: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson
DIRECTOR: Kevin Macdonald
STUDIO: Fox Searchlight
RATING: R (for some strong violence and gruesome images, sexual content and language)
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Behind The Scenes
"The Last King Of Scotland"
“I myself consider myself the most powerful figure in the world.”
-- Idi Amin
It was supposed to be a wild adventure in a far-off country, but when a naive young doctor arrives in 1970’s Uganda – hoping for fun, sun and to lend a helping hand -- he finds himself instead on a shocking ride into the darkest realm on earth: the human heart. This is the story of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, a powerful thriller that recreates on screen the world of Uganda under the mad dictatorship of Idi Amin. Deftly mixing fact and fiction and startlingly resonant with today’s world, the film features a tour de force performance from Forest Whitaker as Amin and carves two unforgettable portraits: one of a charismatic but psychopathic ruler who ravaged his country and the other,,of a witness to history who finally finds the courage to make a stand.
It all begins as handsome Scottish physician Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), fresh out of med school, jets off to Uganda, looking for excitement, romance and the joy of helping a country that truly needs his medical skills. Soon after his arrival, Garrigan is called to the scene of a bizarre accident: Idi Amin, the country’s newly installed leader, has smashed his Maserati into a hapless cow. Boldly taking the chaotic situation under control, Garrigan impresses Amin as brazenly forthright. Already obsessed with Scottish history and culture, Amin takes an instant liking to Garrigan and soon offers him the unlikely job of becoming his personal physician.
It’s an offer so incredible, the doctor cannot refuse – and thus is started his odyssey into the inner circle of one of Africa’s most horrific reigns of terror. At first, Garrigan is seduced by Amin’s famously charming personality and ambitious plans for Uganda, not to mention the ruler’s passion for fast cars, beautiful women and glamorous parties. As time goes on, seduced by his own desire for power,, Garrigan becomes the dictator’s confidante, consultant and right hand man, witnessing increasingly unsettling events -- kidnappings, assassinations and unspeakable atrocities in which he himself may be complicit. Trapped in the moral abyss of Amin’s murderous megalomania, Garrigan nearly loses his soul. But when he finally dares to try to stop the insanity, he winds up in a desperate fight for survival.
Based on Giles Foden’s award-winning novel of the same name, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND is directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (TOUCHING THE VOID, ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER) from a screenplay by Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock. With a cast that includes Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington Simon McBurney and Gillian Anderson, the film is produced by Andrea Calderwood (THE CLAIM) of Slate Films, and Lisa Bryer and Charles Steel of Cowboy Films (WASP, THE HOLE, GOODBYE CHARLIE BRIGHT). It is executive produced by Tessa Ross (BILLY ELLIOTT, ENDURING LOVE) from Film Four; Andrew Macdonald (producer of 28 DAYS LATER, TRAINSPOTTING) and Allon Reich (FOUR FEATHERS, DIRTY PRETTY THINGS) of DNA.
Shot in Britain and Uganda with the support of the Ugandan people, the rarely seen world of Idi Amin’s Uganda is captured by a team that includes cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, DFF BSC, (MILLIONS, 28 DAYS LATER), production designer Mike Carlin (ADVENTURES IN DIGITAL COMICS), British Independent Film Award-winning editor Justine Wright (ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER, TOUCHING THE VOID) and costume designer Michael O'Connor (HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, PROOF OF LIFE).
Into a Dictator’s Heart of Darkness:
The Story of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
How would you respond to the seductive influence of power? Would you bend or forget your own moral code to achieve it? What happens to someone who starts with good intentions and ends up becoming a blood thirsty individual? These are the questions raised by the gripping thriller THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, which takes audiences on a heart-stopping journey inside the world of one of the most fascinating and frightening leaders of all time: Idi Amin, famed for his electrifying magnetism, yet whose brutal rule left as many as a half million of his countrymen dead.
The film also marks the first wholly dramatic film from Oscar®-winning documentarian Kevin Macdonald. Renowned for his suspenseful filmmaking, Macdonald’s previous two films were the breathtaking tale of mountain survival, TOUCHING THE VOID, and the Academy Award®-winning ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER, a searing examination of the terrorist incident at the Munich Olympics. When Macdonald read Giles Foden’s prize-winning, fact-inspired novel, The Last King of Scotland, he felt immediately that it had all the high-wire tension of a real-life tale of terror and survival -- along with the human insight and textural richness of a fictional thriller.
“I saw it as a kind of classic story about a young man who sets out looking for adventure, gets far more adventure than he bargained for and, in the process, finds out who he really is,” Macdonald explains. “In some ways it could be a story about any tyrannical leader anywhere in the world, but I also found it compelling because no one has ever really a done a film like this about Africa.”
Macdonald continues: “I’ve always been drawn to projects that take audiences to new places, that expose them to worlds they’re unfamiliar with and the hope is that even if you’ve never heard of Idi Amin, you’ll leave THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND thinking ‘wow, now that’s opened my eyes to something.’”
Many eyes were opened when Giles Foden first published his novel in 1998, winning the prestigious Whitbread First Novel Award, a Somerset Maugham Award, a Betty Trask Award and the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize. Foden, who moved from England to Africa when he was just five years old and grew up partly in Uganda, had long wanted to write a novel about the strange, terrifying regime of Idi Amin. At last, he found a way past the veils of mythology surrounding Amin and into the intimate heart of the dictator’s world – by creating a fictional young doctor who becomes Amin’s trusted friend and confidante, only to discover he is trapped in a realm that grows more violent and out of control every day.
Meshing Dr. Nicholas Garrigan’s fictional moral dilemmas with shocking real stories from Amin’s rule, Foden forged an exciting window not only into Uganda’s past but into the very question of how ordinary people react when faced with the worst acts of humanity. He titled the novel The Last King of Scotland after one of Amin’s grandiose names for himself. (Amin’s other extravagant titles for himself included “Conqueror of the British Empire” and “Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea.”)
When producer Lisa Bryer read Foden’s book, she saw it right away as having cinematic potential. “I felt it would fit right into the grand tradition of classic movie thrillers set against a real backdrop, such as SALVADOR and MISSING,” she says. “I thought it had universal appeal -- anyone who loves a good story is going to be drawn into this one. It’s also very relevant, because you see this kind of history repeating itself today.”
Bryer’s partner, Charles Steel, was equally intrigued. “This is a timeless story of a young man going out to seek adventure, losing himself along the way and then finding redemption,” says Steel. “But it also coupled with this fantastic, revealing relationship - almost a love story - between Nicholas and Idi Amin, a kind of beauty and the beast tale.”
Bryer and Steel brought the idea to Andrea Calderwood, then head of drama at BBC Scotland, who helped to kick the project into high gear, eventually bringing in Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich of DNA and Tessa Ross of Film Four. Riveted by the subject matter, Calderwood was deeply committed to bringing the story to the screen, though she knew it would not be easy. “The story of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND is so unique and it’s got so much resonance,” she says. “It’s not only really entertaining but also genuinely original, not a repeat of something we’ve all seen before. But at the same time, it’s quite daring in saying that Idi Amin was a human being -- obviously a very flawed human being, but a human being.”
It took years to get the project off the ground but ultimately a page-turner of a screenplay resulted from the work of two leading British screenwriters, Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock. “The adaptation was very difficult,” notes Bryer.“You had to find a way to hold the audience’s compassion for Nicholas Garrigan because he’s the one you have to follow into the world of this brutal dictator. Finding that delicate balance between a young man’s innocence and a madman’s arrogance and violence was the key.”
With the screenplay completed, the filmmakers searched for a director who would be willing to venture into wholly uncharted filmmaking territory in Uganda. Although relative newcomer Kevin Macdonald was a risk for a film that already was taking thematic chances, once he became involved, the producers knew he was a perfect match. “Kevin is extraordinary,” Bryer comments, “I’ve never worked with anyone like him. He’s so well read and bright and with his documentary background, his research is second to none. We couldn’t have made this film without him.”
There remained one potentially major challenge before production could start in earnest. Macdonald and the film’s producers all agreed it was essential to shoot the film in Uganda. But until recently, the country was largely off-limits to all but the boldest of Westerners and Idi Amin remains a controversial figure who can stir up dangerous emotions there. Furthermore, the country has no infrastructure for filmmaking and the project would require cooperation at the highest governmental levels. Would it even be possible? With trepidation, the filmmakers wrangled a meeting with the President of Uganda himself -- Yoweri Museveni – hoping for his blessing.
“Everything hung on the meeting with President Museveni,” recalls Bryer. ‘We needed his full support both creatively and financially. After many weeks of negotiating with his office we managed to secure an audience. When the day came, John Nagenda, the President's Special Media Advisor, made sure we were all in our best dress and on our best behavior, then ushered us into a huge room with Ugandan flags flying. Kevin, the three producers, line producer Andrew Wood and Ugandan location manager Emily Mabonga were all lined up opposite eight ministers and officials and a beaming president, with TV cameras and press photographers covering the whole thing.”
Bryer continues: “Halfway through the meeting President Museveni asked me where my tribe came from. ‘Israel and South Africa Mr. President,’ I answered, hoping not to have blown the meeting. Two hours later we were all ushered out and told by his ministers that the President was not only incredibly happy to have us film in his country, but that he would give us the full use of his army, his parliament and his ministers!”
Macdonald was thrilled. “Everyone thought we were a bit crazy coming to Uganda to film, but I felt very strongly it was the only way to make this film,” he sums up. “Uganda has got a very unique feel to it, with its great modernist architecture from the 50s and the 60s, which you see in the Parliament building and the Mulago Hospital. I wanted to capture that different, more realistic image of Africa, which I think will surprise people. And once we arrived in Uganda, we were surrounded by history. Almost everyone we met had been deeply affected by the time of Idi Amin in some way. Being where it all happened made a massive difference.”
A Man of Shocking Extremes and Contradictions:
Forest Whitaker Portrays Idi Amin
There are few names in history as recognizable as Idi Amin. He has joined Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and Sadam Hussein, among others, in the ranks of dictators who seemingly knew no human bounds. But Amin was also a unique case – a one-time boxer and soldier who climbed his way up from literally nothing, charmed the nation with his vibrant pride and personality and appeared to many to be a newly independent Uganda’s greatest hope for becoming a truly African nation. When he first came to power in a 1971 coup against the corrupt and pro-communist Milton Obote, Amin found widespread support among the media and around the globe – the British Foreign Office optimistically described him as “a splendid type and a good football player” -- until it became clear he was ruthlessly murdering his enemies and structuring his government around his own bizarre appetites, mystical “visions” and paranoid fears.
Amin’s dangerous nature emerged as he began to engage in extreme nationalism, expelling the country’s 50,000 Asians, instigating war with neighboring countries, assisting in the PLO hijacking of an Air France Airbus and creating conditions that led to the deaths or disappearances of hundreds of thousands of Ugandans. Exiles from Uganda told stomach-churning stories of torture, cruelty and even rumoured cannibalism in the highest ranks of government.
And yet, even today there remain people in Uganda who speak reverently of Amin. Notes Kevin Macdonald: “One of the amazing things we discovered in Uganda is that there are lot of people who still have a great deal of respect for Amin. People in the West don’t understand that he was seen as a pretty incredible person as well as using violence indiscriminately. What was perhaps simultaneously most attractive and dangerous about Idi was how mercurial he could be. He was somebody who started with great intentions, but was brought down by his own character flaws. People originally thought he was warm and funny. They thought this man could never hurt a fly. I think all those contradictions are fascinating.”
It was obvious that it would require tremendous skill for an actor to embody all of Amin’s immense paradoxes – all within the confines of a tautly structured thriller. The producers of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND always had just one man in mind for the task: Forest Whitaker, who is not only considered one of today’s most talented screen actors but bears an uncanny resemblance to Amin. With roles in films ranging from Clint Eastwood’s jazz epic BIRD to Neil Jordan’s Academy Award-winning THE CRYING GAME to Jim Jarmusch’s GHOST DOG – Whitaker has developed a reputation for embodying the most diverse and demanding of roles.
For THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, Whitaker was able to evoke Amin’s split personality – his allure and his menace – so authentically that many on the set found it downright eerie “Forest’s portrayal was phenomenal,” says Charles Steel. “He’s captured both the largeness of the character and the danger. There’s a tremendous range and realism to his performance.”
Whitaker came to the project with the standard impression of Amin as a buffoon and killer, but soon found his view deepening far beyond that. “At first, I had only very dark images of this man,” he admits. “I saw him as a big, angry maniac. But as I read the novel and did more research, I began to have a different understanding. When you look at old footage you can see that Idi was also an extremely charming man. The challenge for me as an actor was to play a really complete character, not just a stereotyped image.”
While researching Amin’s history, Whitaker came to the conclusion that he was a man who wanted to be a visionary but who fell victim to his own delusions. Observes the actor: “He was someone who rose not just from poor but from dirt poor all the way to the top. He was often said to be unintelligent and yet he spoke ten different languages. And I think he did want to build more schools and create hospitals and fix roads – but he didn’t find the best ways to do these things. Then, as he started to fear that he was going to lose power, he became extremely paranoid and developed into a much darker figure.”
The darkness of Idi Amin led eventually to rampant rumors of cannibalism and blood rituals – although these were never conclusively proven. Modern historians have even wondered if Amin may have been suffering from physical or psychological disorders that led to his inhumane behavior. But without succumbing to too much speculation, Whitaker instead carefully developed his approach to Amin by focusing on the more human qualities of his thwarted dreams and out-of-control fears. Rather than turn Amin once again into a stereotype, Whitaker attempted to make the role his own.
“I did not want to do a direct impersonation,” Whitaker explains, “but I did study tapes of Amin to help me understand him better as a man. I worked out the way he talked, and studied Swahili because that was his first language. I was most concerned with grabbing a certain essence of the man – to give the sense that whatever else he was, he was a real person.”
While in Uganda, Whitaker was constantly reminded of just how divided people still remain in their feelings towards the dictator. “I met a general there who worked with Amin,” recalls Whitaker, “and he said, ‘Yes, Amin killed my father, yet he did some wonderful things for this country.’ That is the way many see Idi Amin.”
As for Whitaker, he knew that playing Amin would take him to grim and frightening places he had never been before – that would shake him deep into his core. “I knew that this role would have a profound impact on me, and change the way I viewed Africa and the world,” said the actor.
A Fun-Loving Young Doctor Trapped in a Nightmare:
James McAvoy as the Fictional Nicholas Garrigan
Just as important as the role of Idi Amin to THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND is the wholly opposite part of the fun-loving young doctor who has no idea what he’s getting into when he agrees to become Amin’s personal physician. To play Nicholas Garrigan, the filmmakers chose rising young Scottish star James McAvoy, who is well known to UK television viewers for his role in the television adaptation of Zadie Smith’s popular novel “White Teeth” and his award-winning role as a car thief in the Channel Four comedy “Shameless.” U.S. audiences may be familiar with McAvoy’s feature work in such films as WIMBLEDON and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, in which he played the key character of Mr. Tumnus the Faun.
The original character of Garrigan as written by novelist Giles Foden was based on a composite of a number of Westerners who became close to Idi Amin, including, a former British soldier who was widely viewed as one of Amin’s most trusted advisors. Garrigan’s character was also inspired by the fact that Amin himself had a Scottish physician.
McAvoy was immediately attracted to the character. “I thought the script was fantastic and I loved the soul of it,” he says. “I was drawn to Nicholas because he goes through such a huge array of emotions and situations and has a a big character arc. Nicholas is sort of the personification of all the people who fell in love with this monster who was Idi Amin and woke up to see they had created a nightmare.”
Yet McAvoy didn’t want Nicholas to seem too much the observer – but rather to imbue him with a youthful energy and humor that would keep the audience with him as he descends into an increasingly dark journey. “The challenge was to make Nicholas feel like a real human being – and not just the lens that you see the story through,” says McAvoy. “I wanted to make him interesting right from the start because he ends up doing some very difficult and despicable things, and that was a lot of work. Even though he’s not a real person, there had to be a truth and reality to him.”
As he probed the character, McAvoy began to understand why Nicholas finds such joy in Amin’s companionship. “Garrigan is out to see the world, to have a real adventure, and when he first starts working in Uganda in a hospital, he realizes it might not be as glamorous and exciting as he thought and I think he’s scared that his life will becoming boring,” he observes. “But when he meets Idi Amin – it’s a huge shot in the arm of glamour and passion. Here’s this huge, statuesque iconic figure telling him he’s special, he’s brave, he’s got great ideas and he’s making a difference in the country. For Nicholas it’s hugely attractive and hard to resist. That kind of power is intoxicating.”
Ultimately McAvoy sees Nicholas turning into a kind of “Ugly Scot” – who naively impacts Uganda much more than he ever intended. “Nicholas makes such huge, huge mistakes and I think it shows how just one man can be so unintentionally destructive,” he says. “Through his own selfishness, vanity and ego, Nicholas screws things up royally. What’s so fascinating about this movie is that it shows that bad men don’t always do all evil things and good men don’t always do good things – and the ruin of a country is a complex thing that involves both good and bad intentions.”
The filmmakers were especially impressed with McAvoy’s devotion to the role. “James was in nearly every scene in the film,” notes Charles Steel. “He gave a wonderful performance, showing how easy it would be to be seduced by this situation and then to suddenly take your rose glasses off and realize you’re in the middle of a very dark and dangerous situation.”
Some of McAvoy’s most harrowing scenes involved intense physical torture – even worse, at the hands of his former friend -- which tested his limits as an actor. “The torture scenes went on for days and were very, very emotionally draining,” he says. “They were very interesting scenes because when Forest as Idi Amin is saying ‘I’m going to kill you’ what’s going through my head is ‘yeah, maybe you should, because whether you are a monster or not, I am despicable.’ It was so intense and quite hard after that to go back to normal scenes again. You’d be like ‘what do you mean I have to shake his hand and say hello?’ ‘Where’s the pain, where’s the anguish, where’s the terrible sense of helplessness and betrayal?’”
Throughout the film, McAvoy was blown away by Whitaker’s portrait of Amin. “You really get to see the full Amin,” he notes, “his good side and his humanity as well as that part of him where you never knew where you stood, where you never knew if he was going to laugh with you or going to kill you. He was a man who kept people on their toes and Forest is absolutely brilliant playing him. You might think of Forest as being a calm and gentle character but nothing is scarier than a good man being terrifying.”
Two Women in Idi Amin’s Uganda:
Gillian Anderson and Kerry Washington Join The Cast
Even before Nicholas Garrigan becomes involved with Idi Amin, he is stirring up the pot – starting a sexual affair with the mission clinic doctor’s beautiful and lonely wife, Sarah. To play this small but rich role, the filmmakers chose Gillian Anderson, best known for her long-running Golden Globe® and Emmy® Award-winning role as Dana Scully on the hit series “The X Files.” Here, she plays a completely different sort of character – the quiet, jaded wife of a man whose decency and kindness make it nearly impossible for her to face her own unmet desires.
In reading the script, Anderson was intrigued by the chance to get to know more about the mythologized Idi Amin. “I was drawn to the script because you really get to see the Jekyll and Hyde nature of Amin’s character in this story,” she says. “You see both the seductive man who was loved as much as he was feared, and also the angry, delusional dictator who was a dangerous madman.”
She also felt empathy for Sarah’s brief, romantic dalliance with Nicholas. “I think Sarah has grown thirsty for anything from the West, for any kind of new and exciting conversation and so when she meets Nicholas there are immediate sparks,” says Anderson. “But then he goes away to work for Idi Amin and she sees him in a different light.”
Once he is firmly entrenched in Amin’s administration, Garrigan embarks on another, even more illicit and dangerous affair: this time with Kay Amin, one of the polygamous Idi Amin’s several wives. Drawn to her strength and angered by Amin’s harsh treatment of her epileptic son, he turns to Kay for solace as his world begins to fall apart.
Portraying Kay is one of America’s rising new stars, Kerry Washington, who came to attention playing opposite Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles’ wife in the acclaimed RAY and has gone on to star in such films as MR. AND MRS. SMITH and FANTASTIC FOUR. Washington was fascinated by the story of this real-life woman. The real Kay Amin was said to have been a beautiful and bright University student who became Amin’s second wife after a brief affair. Kay’s life ended in mystery when her body was found dismembered in a car trunk – and an investigation suggested that she died during an abortion performed by her secret lover, a Ugandan doctor.
Washington was not only riveted by the story of Kay; she was amazed at the way the script for THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND pulled her into a world she’d never before experienced. “The story is a wonderful historical narrative that is seemingly about very specific historical events in Uganda, but to me is really about human relationships and the consequences these events had on real people’s lives – the very intimate, personal, emotional effects of violence,” she says.
James McAvoy especially enjoyed the complexities of the relationship between his character and Washington’s Kay – which come to a climax when Kay realizes she is pregnant. “It’s not just as simple as two people who fall in love under dangerous circumstances,” he comments. “These are two people who maybe would never even have been attracted to each other had they not both been in dire circumstances and needing a life boat. It’s more than passion for them, it’s survival. And Kerry is the perfect person for the role because she’s so complex as an actress and so versatile and open.”
The chemistry between the two was palpable on the set. “Their scenes together are some of the most sensual I’ve ever seen,” says producer Lisa Bryer.
The chance to film in Africa was also a major factor in Washington’s attraction to the project. “I come from an academic family and background, so being able to throw myself into a completely different socio-cultural experience is what I love most,” she explains. “I really enjoyed familiarizing myself with the complete cultural reality that surrounds Kay and how it informs her emotional reality.”
Throughout the film, Ugandan consultant Charles Mulekwa – a Ugandan playwright who has also worked in the US and is able to bridge both cultures -- worked closely with the entire cast to help further immerse them in Ugandan culture and speaking styles. “The first thing I did once I was onboard was talk to the American actors and reassure them about the country and tell them about what to expect here. Then we began to work on accents,” he says. “Both Kerry and Forest had never been to Africa. So they had to learn the difference between American English and Ugandan English. By the time Kerry left, she was speaking African English and Forest learned Swahili very, very well.”
Into Kampala: Shooting in Uganda
Most of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND was shot in and around Kampala, Uganda, in a city that has seen more than its share of troubles in recent years, yet today is one of Africa’s most bustling and unique urban centers -- built on seven fertile hills and lined with examples of stunning modern architecture.
For Ugandan consultant to the film Charles Mulekwa, it seemed that THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND could provide a fresh and important new view of a city and country most Westerners have never seen outside of news clips. “I was so happy to work on this film because when I first met Kevin Macdonald, he said, ‘when I make this movie I want to show the beauty of Uganda, and I’m not just going to show the kind of stuff you see on the news with sickness and starving children, because I also want to show the best parts of Uganda.’ I was very happy about this and in the final film you see the good, the bad and the ugly of Uganda, which I think is fair enough!”
Throughout, the filmmakers were able to use many authentic locations, including Mulago Hospital, once the crown jewel of Uganda’s health care system under Amin; the Ugandan Parliament building in central Kampala; and the famed Entebbe Airport, where a hostage crisis riveted the world in the 1970s. Still for all its cinematic potential, logistics in Uganda were in constant chaos, simply because the country isn’t used to any film production at all.
“The thing that truly saved us in Uganda is that everybody in the cast and crew embraced the huge challenges of shooting there, and embraced working with people who haven’t done films before, and did so with incredible energy and good humor,” says Andrea Calderwood.
On the very first day of shooting, an assortment of almost comical snafus began. Recalls Calderwood: “For one shot, we had all these action vehicles and extras ready to go and the ambulance wouldn’t start. It turned out that somebody had siphoned out the gasoline over night so we had to actually push the ambulance into the shot - the very first shot of the film. There were so many little things everyday that might hold us up. A lot of the vehicles we used were very old and hadn’t been touched for years, so they didn’t drive properly. Gasoline often disappeared. A lot of the extras had never been involved in a film before, so things took twice as long. Yet the crew had such fantastic spirit and I think they all felt very proud of what they accomplished with the film.”
Charles Steel felt equally proud of the exchange that took place between the Western crew and dozens of enthusiastic African trainees who worked on the film. “It has been very rewarding helping to train Ugandans in the craft of filmmaking,” he says. “Sometimes it was difficult and frustrating, but at the end of the day it has been a very enriching experience. I hope in some way that spirit and the synergy of different cultures working together translates into the film.”
At other times, the filmmakers were overcome with emotion at witnessing the stark reality of life around them. Says Calderwood: “When we were filming in Mulago Hospital it was quite over crowded and there were a lot of very ill people there and dead bodies were being wheeled past us while we were working. It’s moments like those when it really hit home that, although we were making a fictional film, we’re also telling a real story where there’s real suffering and tragedy around us all the time. It was a constant reminder of the significance of the story.”
To provide an illuminating view of Uganda as well as the visual tension of a thriller in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, Kevin Macdonald collaborated closely with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, who is best known for his work on the Dogme films of Thomas Vinterberg and Lars Von Trier, as well as for Danny Boyle’s acclaimed tale of apocalypse, 28 DAYS LATER. Mantle has shot several times in Africa and Uganda – including for the surreal “flying sickness” sequence in Thomas Vinterberg’s IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE -- and came to the project with a strong sense of the country’s vast extremes and physical beauty.
“I wanted to work on this film because I thought it was an excellent script, with a mix of entertainment, suspense and an examination of extreme behavior -- and I also saw a lot of visual possibilities in it,” says Mantle of his initial reaction. Once he began working with Macdonald, he found a creative synergy as well. “Kevin and I both come from a documentary backgrounds and I think that makes us more willing to go for an eccentric, imperfect look at things. We both always have our antenna up for the unusual and the unexplored,” he says.
Part of Mantle’s mission was giving the film a strong, gritty style that would place it securely in the realm of contemporary thrillers despite covering events that took place in the 70s. Notes Charles Steel: “Anthony is a genius and the look he and Kevin created has a much edgier feel than what you would normally expect in a classic story about Africa. They made a point of not working with dollies and cranes, but used Steadicams and a much freer, flowing kind of style which, coupled with the performances, created something very intense and beautiful.”
For Mantle, shooting in Uganda was key. “If we had shot in South Africa or Kenya we could never have gotten that essential magic of being in the place where all this happened,” he says. “It’s something that I think is visible in the film, though you can’t really put your finger on it. There’s an energy around the camera and around every scene. Shooting in a Parliament room filled with bullet holes or sitting in chair that Amin may or may not have sat in made things constantly interesting.”
Mantle’s spontaneity and flexibility also meant he was able to change gears on the fly and tackle the challenges of shooting in a Third World nation. Says Kevin Macdonald: “Anthony has a reputation for being unflappable in any situation and that was very much borne out by the reality of our production. With very few resources and little time, he made the film look wonderful.”
While Mantle loved shooting the landscapes of Uganda, he also found that Forest Whitaker’s face had its own unique geographic features to be explored. “Looking at Forest through the lens is very powerful,” he observes. “I noticed that there is even a split between the right side of his face and the left side of his face. There’s an extraordinary amount of dimension in each of his expressions and it’s not always about the words. I think his portrait is so effective because he’s such a mellow, gentle person on the surface so when he explodes into the more irrational Idi, it’s truly monstrous.”
Probing the Scars of The Past:
Ugandans Respond to THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
Though he left Uganda in 1979 for exile in Saudi Arabia and passed away in 2003, Idi Amin’s legacy continues to reverberate strongly in Uganda. Nearly every citizen of the country was changed in some way by his rule, so at first, Kevin Macdonald worried about rousing emotions and memories better left untouched. But upon his first trip to Uganda he found to his surprise that the local people were thirsty to talk about Amin – they wanted to share their stories and tell the world about what happened in their country.
“I was worried especially about the relatives of those who had died during those times,” states Macdonald. “But strangely when I came to Uganda those feelings changed because people were so open about the subject matter and they all saw it in such a complex way – not at all in black and white. Nobody said to us ‘you shouldn’t be making a movie about our history, what do you know about it?’ Instead, they’ve all really wanted us to tell this story, and to tell it in all its contradictions, and that was very gratifying. Once in Uganda, the caution I felt vanished.”
By involving so many locals in the production, the film was constantly informed by the spirit of the Ugandan people. One of the local stars of the film is Stephan Rwangyezi, who plays the loyal but ultimately doomed Minister Wasswa. Rwangyezi also manages a performing arts troupe in Uganda, providing opportunities to young musicians, dancers and actors. He was thrilled when the production of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND came to Kampala because it gave many of his students a long dreamed-of chance to participate in a real movie production.
Like so many of his compatriots, Rwangyezi has many dark memories of the 70s but was also passionate about telling a more complete story about Idi Amin. “I think this film brings a new view to Idi Amin and the forces around him,” he says. “I’ve always had my problems with people who simply portray Amin as a lunatic. I think the very first cabinet that Amin put together, which my character was a part of, was filled with highly professional intellects who were generally fed up with what was happening in the country and hoping to make a real change.”
He continues: “You see Idi Amin was not an accident, but a direct consequence of our history. The country of Uganda was patched together unnaturally in colonial times and I think Idi Amin was a historical emanation of all this confusion.”
Yet now, with relative political stability, Uganda is becoming optimistic about creating its own future again. “Ugandans have opened a new chapter,” says Rwangyezi. “I am hoping that this film becomes the first but not the last to tell the stories of Uganda. I hope THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND will give a picture of what Uganda really is, because there are also so many very positive sides to our country.”
The Facts Behind the Fiction:
About Idi Amin’s Uganda
THE LAST KING OF A SCOTLAND is a fictional thriller -- but behind the suspense lies the very real story of Uganda under the rule of Idi Amin. Although time is compressed and fictionalized characters such as Nicholas Garrigan have been added, many of the harrowing events seen in the film actually occurred. Following below is a brief summation of Amin’s life and Ugandan times under his rule.
1925: Idi Awo-Ongo Ongoo is born into the Kakwa tribe near Koboko in Northwestern Uganda to a farmer father and an herbalist mother who is said to be a sorceress.
1930s: Idi is raised in Buganda by his mother after his parents separate. Receiving only a rudimentary school education, he develops great skill in sports. He converts to Islam and changes his name to Amin Dada.
1946: As a young man, Amin joins the King’s African Rifles, a regiment of the British colonial army which is then in charge in Uganda. Two years later he is promoted to Corporal and by 1958 he is a Platoon Commander.
1951: Amin attains his first real fame, becoming the Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion of Uganda – a title he will hold for the next 9 years.
1952: Amin serves with the British Army during the violent Mau Mau revolt in Kenya. Officers describe him as a “born leader.”
1961: Rising to the rank of Lieutenant, Amin becomes one of only two commissioned native Ugandan officers under British rule.
1962: Troops under Amin’s command are accused of carrying out a massacre involving torture and other heinous acts (including live burials) in the neighboring Turkana region of Kenya. However, the authorities decide not to pursue a court-martial action against Amin.
1962: Uganda receives its independence from Britain on October 9 and the country is now led by Prime Minister Milton Obote. During this time, Amin makes his first trip to Israel for paratrooper training.
1964: Amin is promoted to Deputy Commander of the Army and Air Force of Uganda
1966: Hounded by reports of financial scandal, Milton Obote suspends the Ugandan constitution, arrests half of his cabinet and installs himself as President for Life. Meanwhile, Amin establishes himself as a national hero in the Battle of Mengo Hill, a victorious attack on the King of Buganda, the dominant tribe in the country. Later, Amin will claim he was protected because bullets cannot harm him.
1969: After several close-call assassination attempts on his life, a nervous Obote removes Idi Amin from his command post in the armed forces
1971: Amin stages a successful coup against Obote – one that is backed by the British -- and the nation celebrates what many hope is the beginning of a new era. Amin declares himself President and rides a wave of passionate support, making bold promises that include abolishing the secret police, freeing all political prisoners, reforming the economy and holding free elections. Initial international response to his leadership is overwhelmingly positive.
1971: Six weeks after Amin seizes power, a bomb explodes at Makindye Prison in Kampala killing 32 army officers crammed in a cell. By the end of his first year in power, it is estimated that Amin has killed 2/3 of the former Ugandan Army. Amin begins establishing death squads as part of the so-called “State Research Bureau” and authorizes assassinations and executions (usually by beheading) of those he believes are still loyal to Obote.
1972: Amin expels the country’s entire Asian population, saying that he wants Uganda to be a “black man’s country.” Over 50,000 Indians and Pakistani families are given just 90 days to evacuate and are allowed to take only as much as they can carry in their arms.
1972: Amin’s campaign against his supposed rivals heats up, as hundreds of thousands are kidnapped and killed. Among them are not only his own parliamentary ministers and government officials but also judges, clergy, professors, journalists, business executives and a wide range of ordinary citizens who fall under suspicion for any reason at all.
1972: Britain and Israel begin to withdraw support for Amin. He now turns to Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi and the Soviet Union for aid.
1973: The United States closes its embassy in Uganda.
1974: The body of Kay Amin, Idi’s second wife, is found dismembered in the trunk of a car belonging to her lover, a Ugandan doctor, who apparently poisoned him. No complete explanation for the gruesome events is ever put forth.
1975: Amin, still very popular across Africa, is elected President of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
1976: An Air France jet filled with Israelis and Jews en route to Paris is hijacked by pro-Palestinian terrorists and lands at Entebbe Airport after Amin offers safe haven. Amin becomes personally involved in the hostage negotiations – but is surprised on the 4th of July when Israeli commandos invade the airport and stage a successful raid, freeing most of the passengers. Two hostages are shot during the hour-long operation and one is left behind: British-Israeli grandmother Dora Bloch, who will later be brutally executed. In response, Britain breaks off all diplomatic relations with Uganda.
1978: The situation in Uganda deteriorates further as inflation soars, armed rebellions break out and coup attempts become increasingly commonplace. Meanwhile, as a distraction from domestic problems, Amin launches an attack on the neighboring country of Tanzania.
1979: Victorious Tanzanian forces take Kampala and Amin flees to Libya, taking four wives, 30 mistresses and at least 20 of his children. He then goes briefly to Iraq before settling in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the rest of his life.
1980: Milton Obote returns to power in Uganda, but his regime is as violent as Amin’s. Armed conflict fulminates in the Northern part of the country, taking thousands upon thousands of lives, and leading to a civil war that continues to this day.
1986: Yoweri Museveni, once an exiled opponent of Amin’s in the 1970s, becomes President of Uganda and begins the hard work of restructuring the devastated country.
1989: Idi Amin makes a last attempt to return to Uganda but is stopped in Kinshasa, Zaire and forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia.
2003: Idi Amin dies of kidney failure in Saudi Arabia.
2006: Continued progress in Uganda has led to considerable economic growth and improvements especially in the fight against rampant AIDS/HIV and in childhood education. However, the violent rebellion that began in the early 1980s continues to wage in Northern Uganda resulting in abductions, attacks and severe humanitarian crises.
