The
way Denzel Washington tells it, playing Rubin
"Hurricane" Carter was a doddle compared to the
stresses of a Berlin press conference. "Pressure
is sitting here... this is pressure," the Oscar-nominated
actor exclaimed as he surveyed the international
press.
What
did Carter think about being played on screen
by an actor like Washington? "I think he was very
pleased," suggested Hurricane director, Norman
Jewison. "Rubin didn't know he was that good-looking."
Asked
why he was attracted to the Rubin Carter story,
Jewison recalled how he hitch-hiked his way through
the Deep South when he was 17.
"That's
where I witnessed apartheid and segregation for
the first time, because I came from a country
where it doesn't exist," the Canadian film-maker
reflected. "Those kind of things stick with you,
and then you end up making movies and naturally
you want to make films about things that you feel
passionate about."
Geoffrey
Macnab
Hurricane
force