Matt Damon touted to play ex-South Africa captain Francois Pienaar in World Cup movie
By Chris Irvine
He has played a confused secret agent, a crooked cop, a trouble serial killer, and even robbed Las Vegas with Brad Pitt and George Clooney, but Matt Damon is now set to take on the role of one of South Africa's most iconic figures.
Damon will allegedly star as Francois Pienaar, the captain of South Africa's 1995 World Cup-winning rugby team in a film to be directed by Clint Eastwood, about Nelson Mandela, and the effect the sporting win had on the country.
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Morgan Freeman will play Mandela in the film adaptation of a soon-to-be-released book by British journalist and author Jon Carlin, entitled "Play the Enemy: Nelson Mandela And The Game That Made A Nation."
Pienaar, who was captain for all 29 of his tests, told South African newspapers at the weekend his wife was especially "pleased" the star of Ocean's 11, The Bourne Identity and The Departed had been chosen to play him.
The 1995 final was contested between South Africa, just a year after the country's first democratic elections, and New Zealand.
Joel Stransky landed an extra-time drop goal to win it 15-12 for South Africa, but it is what happened after that has become one of the iconic moments in the history of sport.
Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok rugby shirt, often seen as the symbol of Apartheid South Africa, presented the William Webb Ellis Cup to Pienaar, becoming a symbol of new-found unity in the "rainbow nation".
Freeman, who had the idea for the film, entitled "The Human Factor", brought Eastwood and Damon on board, and has previously described the Mandela role as the role of his life. Filming of the movie is expected to begin next year.
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