SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: 12 Years A Slave star blasts 'colonial' British film crews

By Sebastian Shakespeare for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:34 EST, 9 September 2015 | Updated: 18:35 EST, 9 September 2015

Leading black British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor has launched a scathing attack on the British film industry, accusing its crews of acting like 'colonialists' when they film in West African countries.

The Hollywood star, nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in 2013 after his role in 12 Years A Slave, has also hit out at their imperialist language. 'We use military terms, don't we? We 'shoot',' says the 38-year-old. 'And the way that works when you're in a foreign country, when you're thinking about a British cast and crew is that people tend to sort of channel their inner colonialist.

'Like, 'How would my great-grandfather have ruled these masses?' It's ridiculous.'

Chiwetel Ejiofor, pictured with Naomie Harris at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards after party, has lauched a scathing attack on the British film industry

Chiwetel Ejiofor, pictured with Naomie Harris at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards after party, has lauched a scathing attack on the British film industry

Ejiofor was in West Africa in 2012 to film Half A Yellow Sun, produced by the British Film Institute. He starred as Odenigbo opposite fellow black British star Thandie Newton, who played his sister, in the adaptation of the novel about the Nigerian civil war in the 1960s. It was filmed across five weeks in Tinapa Studio, Calabar and Creek Town in Nigeria.

This is not the first time the actor has spoken out against problems of race. While promoting Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave last year, he said we have a 'reflex fear' that stops us exposing the truth of Britain's debt to slavery.

'We don't really investigate what Bristol or London or Bath would be without the slave trade,' he said. 'Because we really like those cities and the people who live there. So it's easier to close the door on it and let it go.'

But Chiwetel (pictured left with actress Naomie Harris) might be just the person to set change in motion, as he sees himself one day working behind the camera. 'I enjoy writing and directing. So a combination of all those things over the next 20 years would be quite interesting to me.'

Ejiofor was born in Forest Gate, London, to Nigerian parents. His father, Arinze, was a doctor, and his mother, Obiajulu, a pharmacist. His sister is CNN reporter Zain Asher.

 

 Potter actress plays it by ear

BRITISH actress Helen McCrory, who is married to Wolf Hall star Damian Lewis, admits that despite a glittering roster of stage and screen roles — including Cherie Blair (twice) and Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter — her work is severely affected by her dyslexia.

'I'm mildly dyslexic. It's hard because I often have to learn scripts aurally because I can't read them,' the 47-year-old tells me at the Iconic Print Collection private view in Mayfair.

'I'll say, 'To be or not . . . to the question be.' I'll just invert it — and if you correct anything on my script, I can't see it so what I have to do is record it, with someone checking it, then I learn my lines like that.'

 

He was once David Cameron's tutor at Oxford and still regularly chides the Prime Minister over his blunders via email. But Vernon Bogdanor, a professor of politics, has his own weak spots.

Talking at the launch of Anthony Seldon's new Cameron biography, Bogdanor, 72, complimented his former student for being at ease in the company of both sexes. 'He's got a sister, he always had easy relationships with both men and women. He's very comfortable in his own skin,' opined the prof, before reminiscing about his own youthful encounters with women.

'I hate to tell you that when I was a student, if you were ever at a party and you met a girl who'd been to a convent school you knew you were on to a racing certainty, if you know what I mean.' Time for a chiding from Cameron.

 

 Tragic tycoon's ex Noelle has a lot (of money) to smile about

Bereaved socialite Noelle Reno snapped a selfie, wearing large dark shades, outside Buckingham Palace

Bereaved socialite Noelle Reno snapped a selfie, wearing large dark shades, outside Buckingham Palace

If there's one thing guaranteed to put a smile on bereaved socialite Noelle Reno's face, it's money.

The 33-year-old, who starred in TV's Ladies Of London alongside former fiance Scot Young, started a fashion website shortly after his death last December, when Young fell from Reno's fourth-floor flat and was impaled on railings.

That's but a distant memory, however, for Reno, who looked pleased as punch snapping a selfie in large shades, a black jacket and blood-red lipstick.

'The cheeky grin that happens after venture capitalists tell u yr company is worth a LOT of $$,' she captioned the pic, taken outside the railings of Buckingham Palace.

 

Ed Miliband's beard may have gone, but three new growths have sprouted in the Commons, all on the Tory benches.

Former shadow cabinet member Sir Oliver Heald is sporting a face fungus that makes him look like a spaghetti western bandido, minister Rob Wilson has achieved an impressive covering of bristles and backbencher David Burrowes has also been dodging the razor.

 

It pays to have deep pockets if you are running for high office. Tory MP Zac Goldsmith's London mayoral campaign has just received a £50,000 donation from his mother Lady Annabel Goldsmith, widow of billionaire Sir James.

At least if Zac doesn't become Mayor, no public money will have been wasted on his effort.

This summer Zac had to return a £2,000 donation to Beatrice Tollman, whose husband was convicted of tax fraud in the U.S. Clearly he has learned his lesson about dodgy donations.

 

With the Queen's reign now exceeding Queen Victoria's, royal author Jane Ridley is much in demand. But she drew the line at a request from daytime TV. 'I thought doing THAT kind of programme was a step too far,' she says. 'I turned it down immediately for being too lightweight. But afterwards I re-read their offer and noticed they had offered me quite a fat little fee.' Methinks she was too hasty. 

 

In the genes: Kate Moss's mum still a stunner at 68

Close: Kate Moss joined her mother Linda and brother Nick for a celebratory dinner at Scott's in Mayfair 

Close: Kate Moss joined her mother Linda and brother Nick for a celebratory dinner at Scott's in Mayfair 

Kate Moss snubbed the GQ Men Of The Year Awards for a far more pressing engagement — her mother's birthday.

The 41-year-old supermodel joined mum Linda and brother Nick for a celebratory dinner at Scott's restaurant in Mayfair.

'Happy birthday mum,' wrote Nick as he posted this snap on Instagram.

No sign of Kate's reportedly estranged husband, rocker Jamie Hince, nor of her father, Peter, who divorced Linda, a greengrocer's daughter, when Kate was 13 and Nick was just eight, causing a rift which is said to have never healed. Linda looks far younger than her 68 years — while Kate's legendary appetite for hedonism shows no sign of abating.

Despite missing the main event, the model later dashed off to the awards' private after-party hosted by PR boss Matthew Freud.

 

 Pick of the Parties: Dare-to-bare Jemima shows her sheer nerve

Stone me: Patti Hansen, Keith Richards, Sally Humphreys and Ronnie Wood attend the GQ Men Of The Year Awards

Stone me: Patti Hansen, Keith Richards, Sally Humphreys and Ronnie Wood attend the GQ Men Of The Year Awards

Racy: Socialite Jemima Goldsmith wore a see-through dress

Racy: Socialite Jemima Goldsmith wore a see-through dress

OCCASION: GQ Men Of The Year awards at the Royal Opera House.

GUESTS: Rolling Stones Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood with their wives, Patti Hansen and Sally Humphreys. Plus Stephen Fry, Sir Elton John and crooner Sam Smith.

MENU: Bream fillet with potato cake and marinated squid with tomato salsa.

DRINKS: Domaine Talmard Macon Uchizy and Justerini & Brooks No 61 Reserve Claret.

PUTDOWN OF THE NIGHT: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho went wildly off message and declared the end of the fashion icon: 'There is nobody who has real style. Even if I think hard I cannot think of one famous man or woman who stands out.'

CALL THE FASHION POLICE! Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton's camp, chest-baring blazer perplexed partygoers — as did his Billy Idol bleached barnet.

ODD COUPLE: Chancellor George Osborne hailed Bob Geldof as 'the guy' who introduced his generation to the challenges of sub-Saharan poverty.

OVERHEARD: 'David Gandy has got wrinkles, but he looks hotter than ever.'

BADLY BEHAVED GUEST: Socialite Jemima Goldsmith, in a see-through dress, played online Scrabble with her table companion Conde Nast boss Jonathan Newhouse. Well, he was paying for the party.

Lewis Hamilton wore a chest-baring blazer
George Osborne and Bob Geldof also attended

Lewis Hamilton, left, wore a chest-baring blazer. George Osborne and Bob Geldof, right, also attended

 

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